The Flaming Prodigy
by Megalink1126
Summary: The Trainer. The thief. The agent. What starts as an embarrassing and humiliating forfeit for a young Trainer ends up sending her down a path that will lead her to heartbreak, conspiracy, and possibly, greatness.
1. Beginning Via the End

**Prologue: Beginning Via the End**

* * *

"I don't believe it!" the announcer shouted as the crowd erupted in cheers and boos. On the battlefield below, a small monkey with shaggy orange fur was jumping around happily. He appeared to be wearing a blue mask, all except for the bit of red in the middle, which sat over his eyes. A spiky patch of white fur poked out of the base of his neck, vaguely resembling a collar, and a long orange tail swished behind him, the end of which was aflame. In front of him was a crumpled blue and orange fish-like creature. He had two large dark blue fins sticking out of his head, along with four orange spikes, two on each side of his mouth, which glinted dangerously in the sunlight. A third giant fin was also attached at the end of his body in between his two thick hind legs.

A boy grunted as he held up a red and white sphere, pointing it at the fallen creature. A beam of red light shot out of it, hitting the unconscious fish and sucking him inside.

"And with Swampert out, Brady is down to his last Pokémon, while Cinder still has her Monferno and Typhlosion in reserve," the announcer continued, watching the scene unfold below them.

"Who would have thought that a Fire-type Pokémon like Monferno could have ever taken down a Swampert, who has a huge type advantage over it?" his colleague, an announcer a few years his junior, asked.

"Well, Grass Knot was what really tripped Brady up. Not only did it do a mountain of damage to a Water- and Ground-type like Swampert, but it also allowed Monferno to sneak up and pummel him with his Fighting-type moves."

"Ooh, it looks like Brady is about to send out his final Pokémon."

Down on the field, Brady had just thrown another red and white sphere, releasing a large, brown feathered bird with a long, thin neck. His wings had two bushy patches of white feathers near the base of them, and his feathers, which were primarily brown, also had a bit of white near their tips on his wings. Two beady eyes in between a large, red coxcomb glared at Monferno as the bird opened his long pale beak and uttered a high-pitched squawk.

"_Fear_!" it cawed as it took to the sky.

"And Brady has sent out his Fearow! How will Cinder counter it?"

Cinder smirked as she held up her own red and white sphere and recalled her Monferno. Just like the Swampert before him, he disappeared in a beam of red light moments before his Trainer threw a second sphere. There was a flash of light, and in his place stood a large, dinosaur-like creature. His back was covered in long, sleek blue fur, while his belly had a lighter, cream color to it. Upon seeing the circling Fearow, he let out a deafening roar as his back burst into flames.

"And Cinder sends out her Typhlosion to counter Brady's Fearow! Things are heating up!"

Moments before the announcer stopped talking, Fearow gave a loud caw, and dove at Typhlosion, his wings glowing a bright, silver color. Typhlosion responded by inhaling sharply, blasting a huge blast of fire and lava out of his mouth, smothering the fast-approaching Fearow before the bird could even react.

"Ouch, that has got to hurt," the first announcer said, wincing.

"I'd say, Matt. I doubt anyone would want to be hit by an almost full powered Eruption attack like that," the second announcer replied.

Fearow squawked in annoyance as he broke from the attack and flew back into the air, eying Typhlosion carefully. Typhlosion smirked as he unleashed a weaker stream of fire from his mouth. Fearow squawked as he rolled to the side, before flying at Typhlosion with his wings glowing silver once again. Typhlosion hissed as the Steel Wing attack slashed against his body before unleashing another stream of flames, which Fearow dodged with almost arrogant ease.

"And Fearow strikes back with a Steel Wing attack! Even though Typhlosion has a resistance to Steel-type moves, it still looked like it hurt! How will Cinder and Typhlosion respond to that?"

Typhlosion growled again, before curling up into a ball and spinning, heading slowly towards Fearow. A white ring of energy appeared around him before he his entire body was covered red, flickering flames. Fearow cawed, before glowing with a strange, blue aura. He then also started spinning, a glowing ring appearing around him before he was also covered in flames. The two Pokemon collided and met with a stalemate, neither of them giving an inch. After a few seconds, both Pokemon jumped back, the flames and rings disappearing as they glared at each other.

"Neither of these Pokémon seem to be giving an inch! Typhlosion attacked with a powerful Gyro Ball and Flame Wheel combo, and Fearow answers right back by using Mirror Move to copy Typhlosion's combination and use it against him!"

"Both of these Pokémon seem to be evenly matched. I think it will come down to luck and whoever wants to win more."

Back on the battlefield, Fearow flew back up into the air and started glowing with a swirling white aura. He let loose a deep caw, before going into a nose dive straight at Typhlosion. Meanwhile, Typhlosion just stood there, waiting, as Fearow crashed into him, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

"And Typhlosion gets nailed by a powerful Sky Attack! I don't know if anything could still be standing after that!"

"Well, Sky Attack is one of the most powerful Flying-type move there is, and that one looked particularly deadly."

After a few tense minutes, the dust cleared, causing the audience to gasp at what they saw. Typhlosion had grabbed a hold of the struggling Fearow's beak, stopping the Sky Attack in its tracks. Typhlosion then gave an evil grin as he swung Fearow around and slammed him into the ground, creating a small crater with multiple cracks shooting out of it.

"Wow!" Matt shouted as Fearow struggled to get back up.

"You took the words right out of my mouth. Typhlosion stopped that Sky Attack with his bare hands, and then used Reversal to do a massive amount of damage!"

Fearow struggled back to his feet, and jabbed Typhlosion with his spinning beak. Typhlosion staggered back and growled at Fearow, who responded by spreading his wings with the new room and taking off back into the air.

"And Brady and Fearow are back into it!"

Fearow unleashed three beams from his beak, one red, one yellow, and one blue. The three beams then merged together and created a single, swirling beam of red, blue, and yellow. Typhlosion barely had time to get out of the way before the beam smashed into the ground, creating a second crater in the arena. Fearow, meanwhile, landed on the opposite side of the arena, shedding some of his feathers and healing some of his wounds.

Typhlosion growled as he rolled into a second ball of flames and talked Fearow, not letting him get a chance to heal. Fearow shrieked as the flames burned his feathers as he tried to take back in to the air.

"And Typhlosion comes back with a vengeance after barely dodging that Tri Attack. What health Fearow restored with that Roost is probably gone from that Flame Wheel."

Typhlosion growled, not wanting the weakened Fearow to escape. He stomped on the ground, sending two sheets of rock shooting up from the ground, coming together right where Fearow's wing was, pinning him to the ground and making him unable to fly away.

"And Typlosion pins Fearow to the ground with a Rock Tomb! Could this be the end for Brady?"

Fearow started using multiple Drill Peck attacks in a desperate attempt to try to free himself from the Rock Tomb. Typhlosion, meanwhile, had started to gather energy from the sun, making the flames on his back glow a blinding white.

Finally, after a few more Drill Pecks from Fearow, the rock holding his wing down finally started to crack, and with one last pull, he managed to yank his wing free. He cawed in triumph moments before he was blasted by a blinding white hot beam of energy. Screeching in pain, Fearow fell weakly to the ground, clearly unfit to continue.

"And that's it! After an intense battle from both participants, Cinder Flair is moving onto the quarterfinals!"

The crowd erupted in applause and boos as Cinder punched the air and started to run over to her Typhlosion. Brady sighed in defeat as he recalled his fallen Pokémon, turned, and walked out off the battlefield.

Typhlosion grinned weakly at his Trainer before suddenly falling to the ground on all fours. His body started to convulse, and the Typhlosion suddenly vomited all over the ground. He then began to thrash about wildly, sending streams of fire out of his mouth and back.

"And it seems that there's something wrong with Cinder's Typhlosion. Look, the medics are even running out onto the field to see what's happening."

A group of men dressed in white clothing rushed onto the field, two of them restraining Cinder and pulling her back from the flailing Pokémon. Cinder resisted, trying to break free from the medics' grips, but it was no use.

Typhlosion looked wildly at the circle of men slowly advancing upon him. Disoriented and confused, he shot a fireball at the nearest one, who fell back as three other medics jumped on him. Typhlosion struggled as the men pulled out syringes and injected him with a clear liquid. He thrashed about weakly for a few more seconds before going completely still, except for the very shallow rise and fall of his chest.

* * *

A few days later…

"…And finally, we must regretfully inform you that the contestant Cinder Flair has dropped out of the Indigo League due to the health of her Typhlosion. This means that her last round opponent, Brady Clark, will be moving on to the quarterfinals to face Andrea Smith tomorrow at ten in the morning."

* * *

**So yeah, I uploaded this chapter again because it was pretty bad. It still is, but at least it's not riddled with as many grammatical errors. It seems a bit rushed, but I blame the fact that I was going from a sort of separate point of view, like one might get from watching it in the stands or on TV, instead of the usual Trainer's point of view.**

**Anywho, that's about it from me. Hopefully I'll be able to edit a few other chapters here soon and get them uploaded so they're not quite so…mistake ridden. Of course, I probably missed a few things, so anything anyone can point out would be greatly appreciated. So until next time.**


	2. Home Sweet Home

**Chapter 1: Home Sweet Home**

* * *

"Well, here we are…" Cinder mumbled as she gazed upon Blackthorn City. It was a quiet town, filled with many small shops and houses. But just because it was a small city didn't mean that it was weak. In fact, Blackthorn City was home to the toughest Gym in Johto, and many trainers came each year to challenge the Gym leader in hopes of winning the Raising Badge from Clair, the Blackthorn City Gym Leader.

Cinder smiled as she remembered the training Clair had put her through while she had trained under her. Sure it had been rough, but at least it had taken her mind off her parents' mysterious and sudden move from Cinnabar Island, her home town.

_I probably wouldn't have decided to train both Fire and Dragon types if it wasn't for her. _She thought as she continued on her way.

Her house was located on a ridge which overlooked Blackthorn City. It had a nice view, but you could fall off easily, which almost happened to her hyper and cheerful younger brother, Blayze when he had been reaching down to retrieve a "pretty rock," which was attached to the face off the ridge. Shortly afterwards, Cinder's father had built a fence near the drop off to prevent anymore

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a yellow and black wasp suddenly flew out of the bushes straight at her, his two sharp, spike-like appendages attached to his arms pointed directly at Cinder.

"It's just me Beedrill." Cinder said softly as the wasp stopped in his flight, recognizing her. Cinder patted the Poison Bee Pokémon on the head, who grunted before flying away. Cinder smiled as she watched her younger brother's Pokémon flew off to continue to guard the house. She still clearly remembered the day that Blayze had announced that he wanted to train all different kinds of Pokémon, not just Fire types. Cinder thought that her dad would throw a fit, but instead he just laughed and told him to be the best trainer he possibly could be, which was fairly surprising seeing as how it came from one of the best Fire type trainers out there in her opinion.

Since then her brother had made quite a name for himself, finishing high up in multiple leagues.

_Better than my record, _Sara thought sadly. She herself had never done well in tournaments. She had finished in the top 32 in both the Johto and Hoenn Leagues, in the top 16 in the Sinnoh League, and, well, she didn't want to think about the Kanto League at the moment.

It had been six months since her Typhlosion had become sick and she had been forced to drop out of the tournament. Since then, she had been out training rigorously with her Pokémon. All of them seemed to want to become stronger, even her extremely weakened Typhlosion. After six months, he still wasn't as strong as he was before he became sick, which worried Cinder deeply.

Her thoughts were once again interrupted as she almost tripped over one of the rocks that bordered her mother's flower garden, sending her failing into a patch of dirt and colorful flowers. Quickly standing back up, Cinder quickly brushed the dirt and flower petals off of her red t-shirt and black shorts, her face beet red from embarrassment. After making sure she had gotten most of the debris off of herself, she ran to the front door and knocked twice before opening the door and stepping inside.

"I'm home!" She announced happily as she stepped into a well lit room. The room itself was filled with a sofa and a recliner, each of them a tan shade in color and facing a television set. A bookshelf had been squeezed into the corner next to the TV, and was full of various photo books, tools, and old toys that Cinder and her two brothers had played with when they were younger. Various pictures were hung on the walls of Cinder's family, most of which were over ten years old. A staircase ran along the far wall of the room which led to the second floor of the house.

There were two doorways in the room. To the left a large rectangular opening led to a dining room, and another doorway on the far wall led to a very cluttered kitchen. As Cinder looked around the room, a red haired woman stepped out of the kitchen doorway, her face lighting up when she saw who had come in the door.

"Cinder!" the woman squealed as she ran forward. She was wearing a pink dress with an apron over it, and her long red hair was in a ponytail. Before Cinder could react, the woman had embraced her in a huge hug.

"Nice to see you to mom," Cinder said awkwardly, patting the woman on her back, who had started sobbing.

"Hey sis," a male voice said to Cinder's left. Cinder looked over her mom's shoulder, and saw her younger brother Blayze leaning against the doorway to the dining room. Blayze had grown a good deal since Sara had seen him last. His hair was longer as well, coming down to his chin, although you could hardly tell since it was in such a wild disarray. "You know that most people give flowers to people who they haven't seen for a while. You on the other hand seem to be wearing them for some reason."

Cinder stared at her smirking brother in confusion, who simply laughed and pointed to his hair. Her hands immediately flew up to her own hair, which sure enough was covered in flower petals and dirt, making her blush fiercely in embarrassment.

"What are you doing here anyway Blayze?" Cinder asked, trying to change the subject. "I thought you would have left for Sinnoh by now."

Blayze grinned again. "What, are you not happy to see me? I just thought I would stay a few extra days so I could see you again. Plus, the Dragon Festival is this week."

"And since when have you been interested in the Dragon Festival?" Cinder asked, trying to discretely brush some of the dirt and petals out of her hair while at the same time trying to get out of her mother's embrace.

Blayze shrugged. "I just thought it would be a good time for training since a lot of powerful trainers are coming here."

"I think that's enough chit-chat for now." Cinder's mom said as she finally let go of Cinder. She had stopped sobbing, but was still beaming at Cinder. "There will be plenty of time for that later. Weren't you supposed to be getting something for your dad Blayze?"

Blayze groaned. "Crap, I knew I was forgetting something…" he muttered to himself before running off to the kitchen to get whatever it was that his father needed.

"Cinder, why don't you release your Pokémon from their balls? I'm sure they'd appreciate being able to relax for a little while." Cinder's mom suggested. She then turned and followed Blayze into the kitchen

"Right," Cinder said as she stepped back outside. As she stepped out the door however, she heard two cries of joy from her right. Before she even had time to react, Cinder suddenly was tackled and sent to the ground again. She quickly pushed the two tacklers off of her and jumped up, only to see two happy looking Pokémon staring up at her.

The first one was a tiny blue dragon-like Pokémon. He stood on his two hind legs, which ended in two, two-toed feet. A yellow triangular patch of scales covered his belly while his chest was covered in blue scales. His lower jaw was also yellow, and had two sharp teeth sticking out of it. The main feature on his body was a gray, ridge-like formation that started at the top of his head and curved down his back. He smiled up at Cinder, waving his two short and stubby arms in the air.

The other Pokémon resembled a turtle. His body was mainly red except for the occasional black band on his knees and lower neck. His shell was also black except for the hexagonal holes that covered it, which were glowing a deep red color. His long neck ended in a tiny head, which had a mouth, two holes where his nostrils should be, and a pair of closed eyes. Smoke was being released from the top hole in his shell as well as his two nostril holes.

"Hey Bagon and Torkoal," She said, patting both of them on the head. "I haven't seen you guys in a while." The two Pokémon nodded their heads in agreement, still happy to see their trainer.

"I see you found your other Pokémon." Blayze said as he came around the corner of the house.

"That was fast." Cinder remarked.

"Yeah, lucky for me I told dad that you were home as soon as I stepped into his shop. Otherwise I would have probably gotten the lecture to end all lectures, as usual."

Cinder smiled as she took out five Poke Balls.

"Come on out everyone!" She said as she threw the five red and white spheres into the air, releasing Cinder's five remaining Pokémon in a flash of white light.

"Char?" A small red lizard said as she looked around, unsure of where she was. She was standing on upright on her back two legs, each ending with three ivory colored nails. Her belly was cream colored along with the underside of her tail, the tip of which was aflame. She had two short red scaled arms which ended in four clawed hands. Her head was fairly large, including two big blue eyes, two tiny holes for nostrils, and a large mouth that had four sharp teeth visible sticking out.

"Bite," A blue and red dragon hissed as he went over and greeted Bagon. Most of his body was covered in blue scales except for his chest, the front of his neck, and his lower jaw, which were red. He stood on his two hind legs as well, which ended in two, three toed feet. The upper part of each leg also had two white spikes attached to them. Four fins were located in various places on his body, including one on each arm, one on his back, and one on the top of his thick tail. His skinny arms also ended in a single sharp, white claw. His head was relatively flat, with what appeared to be a jet engine-like attachment on each side of his head.

"Combus!" An orange and tan colored chicken-like Pokémon cried as she kicked the air repeatedly. Her lower body, including her muscular thighs and belly, were covered in orange feathers, while her head, torso, and arms were covered in tan feathers. Her beak and three feathered crest on the top of her head were also orange. Her gray colored legs ended in four clawed feet, with three toes in the front and one in the back. There were also three sharp claws on the end of each of her arms.

"Ferno!" Monferno shouted, trying to be louder than the chicken as he did a handstand.

"Typhlo," Typhlosion yawned as he laid down on the grass for a nap.

"Your Pokémon are looking pretty strong." Blayze said as he looked at each of them. "When did you get the Charmander?"

"I caught her while I was training a few months ago, after I had sent Torkoal home for some rest."

"Well, she looks fairly strong considering you haven't had her very long."

"I've seen better," A male voice said behind them. The two of them turned, and saw two men walking towards them. The older man had short, pure white hair, and was wearing a red short sleeved shirt and jeans. He was very muscular, and was covered in grime from head to toe from working in his forge all day, but he smiled slightly when he saw Cinder. The younger boy had short, messy red hair, and was wearing a red and gold jacket with a white shirt underneath. He also had red pants with a white stripe down the side. A smirk was plastered to his face as he examined Cinder and her Pokémon.

"Hello Cole," Cinder said, scowling at the younger of the two men.

"Now is that anyway to great your older brother?" The red headed boy asked, crossing his arms as he stood in front of Cinder.

"It is after you insulted my Charmander."

"Now, now, no need to fight." The white haired man, his voice deep and somewhat gravely.

"Hey dad," Cinder said, still scowling at Cole.

Cinder's dad, Soot, sighed. "Why can't either of you ever get along?"

"Yeah, lighten up." Blayze said trying to do a hand stand along with Monferno.

"Sorry dad, but I don't think we'll ever get along." Cinder said, still glaring at Cole.

She and Cole had been rivals since Cinder could remember. Both of them wanted to be stronger than the other, which had resulted in a lot of fights over the years. The last time Cinder had seen her older brother was on TV, when he got his second place ribbon in the Johto League. There was no doubt in her mind that he would brag about it while she was at home.

"You forgot the few years before you could talk." Cole said. "You weren't so bad back then, just smelly."

"Just because you almost won the Silver Conference doesn't mean you're better than me!" Cinder said, snapping at her brother.

"Who said anything about the Silver Conference?" Cole asked, smirking mischievously.

"Here they go again." Blayze said as he rolled his eyes.

"It's not my fault that you couldn't go on in the Indigo League because you only had five fit Pokémon." Cole said, looking at Cinder's Pokémon again. "Of course, it's a miracle you even made it as far as you did with this sorry bunch."

"I dropped out so I could make sure my Typhlosion got better! And don't you dare insult my Pokémon!" Cinder shouted, her anger spiking.

"But you couldn't go on anyway because you didn't have enough Pokémon." Cole continued. "Maybe you should spend a little less time training Pokémon you already have, and focus more on catching some new ones."

"Well then, let's have a battle to see which is better; having a lot of Pokémon, or spending a lot of time with your Pokémon to help build your bonds with them and make them stronger."

"You're on, just don't cry when I win, okay?"

* * *

Blayze sighed as he stood in between Cinder and Cole, holding two flags.

"Okay, this is going to be a fairly pointless battle between Cole and Cinder. I'd hope by now you guys would know most of the rules of battling, so go nuts." He said in a bored voice.

Cole glared at him.

"Would you please act serious for once in your life?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just do your little battle thingy."

"You would think that being a trainer for almost four years would have made him a bit more serious." Cole mumbled as he turned his attention back to Cinder.

"Hey, I never wanted to be the stupid ref for your battle. You guys forced me into it." Blayze grumbled.

Soot sighed and placed his hand on Blayze's shoulder.

"How about I say the rules and you wave your flags around?" He suggested.

"Fine," Blayze said, pouting.

"Okay, this will be a three on three battle between Cole and Cinder Flair." Soot began. "Both trainers will use three Pokémon each in a series of one on one battles, each trainer using a different Pokémon for each round, and the battle will be over when two of the trainer's three Pokémon are defeated. There will be no substitutions. Are both trainers ready?"

"Let's go," Cinder snarled.

"Ready," Cole said confidently.

"Then begin!" Soot said.

"Ninetailes, burn!" Cole said as he threw his first Poke Ball. A cream colored fox appeared in a flash of white light. She had beautifully groomed fur, which split off into nine luxurious tails that each ended in a blood red point. Her ruby red eyes started at Cinder as she waited for her to make a move.

"Ninetailes, huh? I can see that you've done a good job raising her." Cinder said, although she sounded like she hated to admit it.

Cole smirked as he stroked Ninetailes's fur.

"Yes, I've spent a lot of time training her, and it's really paid off."

Cinder frowned, obviously thinking which of her Pokémon would be best against Cole's Ninetailes.

"Alright," She finally said. "Monferno, go."

The Playful Pokémon quickly bounced forward, eager to get into a battle. He made it halfway there, before being blocked by a very angry looking chicken, who refused to let him pass.

"Combusken, what are you doing?" Cinder asked.

Monferno tried to step past Combusken, but Combusken was too quick, and easily blocked his path. Monferno growled, and crouched down into a fighting stance. Combusken did the same, glaring at Monferno all the while. Cole silently watched the two Pokémon fight with each other, smirking.

"Break it up you two! Combusken, let Monferno through!"

Monferno smirked as he tried to walk around Combusken for a third time, but once again his path was blocked by the angry Combusken.

"Busken! Comba comebusk busken!" She squawked, pointing to herself and then at Ninetailes.

Cinder shook her head sadly.

"Sorry Combusken, but that Ninetailes looks serious, and I think Monferno would be able to do a better job in this situation. If Cole uses a fast Pokémon, I'll be sure to use you okay?"

Combusken still looked angry, but finally let Monferno through. He stuck his tongue out at her, before quickly running off to stand in front of Cinder.

"Are you ready to start yet, or are you going to stand around all day playing with your Pokémon?" Cole taunted.

Cinder grunted. "Just make your move."

"Gladly. Ninetailes, use Zen Headbutt!"

Ninetailes shot forward faster than Cinder expected. She didn't even have time to call a counter attack before Ninetailes's multicolored glowing head smashed into Monferno's chest, doing a dangerous amount of damage and sending him flying back.

Monferno crashed into a nearby tree, bounced off, and collapsed on the ground.

"Too easy," Cole said as Blayze looked at Monferno.

"Monferno!" Cinder shouted, concerned for her Pokémon. Combusken grunted as she watched with her arms folded.

"Monferno just got beat up by Ninetailes." Blayze announced. "Cinder wins."

"Would you be serious for once?" Cole growled.

"I feel as if I was already asked that before." Blayze said staring off into space.

Suddenly, Monferno gave a grunt, and sat up weakly. Dazed, he slowly managed to stand, albeit a little shakily, before glaring at Ninetailes.

"Good job Monferno!" Cinder said happily.

"Okay, I guess you guys can go back to beating each other up now." Blayze said, bored.

"Monferno, strike back with Mach Punch!"

Monferno raced forward, his hand glowing with a white light. In a few bounds he had crossed the entire length of field between himself and Ninetailes before quickly punching her in the lower jaw, making her flinch slightly. She stood her ground however, refusing to be pushed back by the Playful Pokémon, and eventually Monferno jumped back, ready to dish out more damage.

"Blast him back with a Flamethrower Ninetailes!" Cole snarled.

"Show them your own Flamethrower Monferno!" Cinder ordered.

Both Pokémon quickly charged up a ball of fire in their mouths, before releasing a stream of red-hot flames at each other. The two attacks both hit their mark, scorching the receiving Pokémon. Neither of them seemed to give an inch, however, as they both continued to blast each other with flames.

Cinder smirked.

"Let's see how you like this. Monferno, use Ninetailes's Flamethrower to power up your Flame Wheel!"

Monferno immediately stopped his Flamethrower, before jumping forward into Ninetailes's flames and starting to roll. Ninetailes's Flamethrower swirled around him, powering up his own attack greatly. He then crashed into Ninetailes, knocking her back slightly.

Cole ground his teeth.

"Ninetailes, blast him away with an Extrasensory attack."

Ninetailes's ruby red eyes started to glow a shimmering blue. Monferno was suddenly surrounded by a glowing blue outline, freezing him in midair. Ninetailes then flicked her head, sending Monferno flying back through the air.

He crashed into the ground with about as much grace as a falling piano. After a few seconds, he got up slowly, wincing in pain as he held his left arm.

"Ninetailes, let's finish this off. Use Zen Headbutt!" Cole ordered.

Ninetailes started to race forward, her head glowing multiple colors once again, but Cinder was ready for her.

"Monferno, use Grass Knot!" She shouted.

Monferno's eyes started to glow a faint green color as two pieces of grass suddenly sprung up out of the ground and tied themselves into a knot. Ninetailes raced forward, completely oblivious about what Monferno had done. Because of this, she didn't see the Grass Knot until it was too late. Her front right paw got caught in the trap, tripping her up and making her fall flat on her face.

"Yes! Now use Endeavor!"

Monferno grinned savagely as he began to glow with a pulsing yellow aura. He then ran forward, and slammed into the fallen Ninetailes, zapping her strength until it was at the same level as Monferno's. Monferno then jumped back, smirking at what he had just done.

"No, Ninetailes!" Cole said angrily as Ninetailes got up panting.

"What's the matter Cole? Your poor little Ninetailes hurt?" Cinder taunted in a baby voice, infuriating Cole even more.

"No more holding back Ninetailes! Use Overheat now!"

Ninetailes opened her mouth, before releasing a blast of white hot fire at Monferno. Monferno shrieked as the powerful flames licked at his skin.

"Monferno!" Cinder shouted, worried for her Pokémon.

"Now go in for an Iron Tail!" Cole shouted.

Ninetailes stopped her attack before jumping into the air. Her tails started to shimmer with a silvery light as she turned in midair, ready to strike Monferno.

"Block Ninetailes with your own Iron Tail!"

Wincing, Monferno also jumped into the air, his tail also shimmering with a white light. He then spun, and the two attacks collided with a ringing sound. Unfortunately for Monferno, his single skinny tail had no chance against Ninetailes's nine powerful tails, and his tail was easily knocked away. Ninetailes then spun again, and hit Monferno with her Iron Tail across the right side of his body, sending him crashing into the ground.

"Finish him off with Zen Headbutt!" Cole snarled.

"Nine," Ninetailes cried as she flipped in the air again, her head starting to glow multiple colors once again. She then came crashing down to the ground, hitting Monferno and kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

"Monferno!" Cinder cried as she ran forward to see if her Pokemon was okay. When the dust finally cleared, it revealed Ninetailes panting over the unconscious form of Monferno.

"Well, are you going to declare Monferno as unable to battle or what?" Cole snapped at Blayze, who was trying to climb a tree and paying no attention to the battle.

"I choose what," Blayze said, making Soot sigh.

"I'll do it," Soot said. "Monferno is unable to battle. Ninetailes is the winner."

"You did your best Monferno, now it's time for you to take a nice rest." Cinder said as she recalled her fallen Pokémon back into his Poke Ball. Combusken grunted, shaking her head.

"Excellent job as always Ninetailes." Cole said as he recalled his Pokémon, a smirk plastered to his face. "So Cindy, are you ready to give up?"

"Oh, we're just getting started, _Infernos_." Cinder growled.

Cole glared at her.

"My name is Cole, not Infernos." He growled.

Cinder smirked evilly. "Aw, it looks like someone doesn't like being called by their real name."

"For the last time, my name is Cole!"

"Yes, but it wasn't always like that. Or have you forgotten that Infernos?"

"Just send out your next Pokémon Cinder." Cole growled.

"Fine then, Gabite, go!" Cinder shouted as pointed to the battlefield. The red and blue dragon jumped forward, eager to battle.

"So you have to resort to type advantage in order to beat me, eh Cinder?" Cole said, taunting his sister.

"You never said that we only had to use Fire types. I'm just being smart." Cinder countered.

"Fine, we'll still beat you. Flareon, burn!" Cole shouted, releasing a furry, four legged Pokémon that looked like a cross between a dog and a fox. Her body was a blood red color, while the fur around her neck, her tail, and her head was cream colored. Two large ears were attached to her head, even they were as big, if not bigger, then the head itself.

"Start out with Shadow Ball Flareon!"

"Flare!" Flareon cried as she took a deep breath and started charging up a crackling black ball of energy. After a couple of seconds, she released the attack at Gabite with deadly accuracy.

"Block with Flamethrower, and then go in for a Dragon Claw!" Cinder shouted.

Gabite hissed as he released a stream of flames at the incoming attack. The Shadow Ball and Flamethrower collided, each fighting for the upper hand. After a few seconds of a stalemate, the two attacks suddenly exploded, kicking up a cloud of smoke. Gabite then suddenly leapt out of the cloud, his claws glowing, and he raked them across Flareon's face, making her cry out in pain.

"Knock Gabite away with a Superpower attack!"

Flareon started to glow with a yellow aura, and she rammed into Gabite, sending him sliding backwards. Gabite hissed in anger from the damage he received, but still seemed eager to continue the battle.

"Alright Gabite, trap Flareon with a Sand Tomb!"

Gabite growled, his eyes glowing light blue in color. A vortex of sand suddenly erupted underneath Flareon. She cried out in shock as the sand started to solidified slightly, trapping her.

"Now go in for another Dragon Claw!" Cinder commanded.

"Lava Plume," Cole ordered, a slight hint of venom in his voice.

Gabite leapt forward, his claws glowing, as he prepared to slash Flareon. Flareon, on the other hand, just stood there, doing nothing but glare at him. Moments before Gabite's attack landed, Flareon suddenly howled, and a stream of lava erupted out of the ground, hitting Gabite and making him stumble backwards. It didn't look like it did much except make him angrier.

"Now unleash a Heat Wave," Cole ordered.

"Flareo!" Flareon shouted as a stream of hot air was released from her mouth, aiming for the sand trapping her. The heat itself really didn't do much, but the blast of air from the attack managed to weaken the sand enough to enable Flareon to break free. She did so, and jumped away from Gabite, smirking to herself.

"Don't let up Flareon! Keep using Heat Wave, and add in a Flamethrower!"

The now freed Flareon turned her attention back to Gabite, and instantly unleashed a stream of flames and hot air at him. Gabite hissed as the attack seared his skin, but remained standing there, unmoving.

"What's the matter Cinder, you haven't given you Pokemon a command in a while," Cole taunted.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for the right moment, like right now. Gabite, Iron Head and Dragon Rush!" Cinder shouted.

Gabite smirked as he was covered by a blue light. He then ran forward with his head down, which was glowing with a silver light, allowing him to plow through Flareon's attack fairly easily. He then crashed into Flareon, making her fly back through the air.

"Flareon!" Cole shouted.

"Now fire a Dragon Pulse!" Cinder shouted, trying to end it.

Gabite opened his mouth and started to form a ball of green energy. After a few seconds he unleashed the Dragon Pulse, which headed straight for Flareon.

"Block it with Shadow Ball, and then use Dig!"

Still falling through the air, Flareon managed to twist around and fire a dark ball that crackled with energy at the oncoming Dragon Pulse, instantly canceling it out. As Flareon hit the ground, she started digging, burrowing her way underground.

"Be careful Gabite, we don't know where she'll be attacking from."

"Bite," Gabite barked in agreement.

A few minutes passed, and still Flareon did not appear. Cinder tapped her foot impatiently while Gabite growled slightly, clearly annoyed that nothing was happening.

"Well, are you going to attack or what?" Cinder finally asked.

"Oh, I thought you would never ask," Cole said, smirking. "Flareon, use Lava Plume!"

For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, the ground suddenly erupted in a blast of lava and earth, blasting a shocked Gabite into the sky.

"Gabite!"

"Now use Iron Tail!"

Flareon suddenly burst through the ground, managing to avoid the falling lava and earth, and slam a tail shining with silver energy into Gabite, knocking him back to the ground. He landed with a thud, kicking up more soil, burying him. Flareon landed a few feet away, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Looks like that's it," Cole said, smirking.

"Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you?" Cinder said, smirking.

"What are you…" Cole started to ask before Gabite suddenly burst out of the ground behind Flareon, his claws glowing. Before she could turn around, Gabite raked his claws across her back, making her squeal in a mixture of surprise and pain.

"It's going to take more than that to take my Gabite out," Cinder said. "Now use Iron Head!"

Gabite jumped back slightly, his head starting to glow. He then leapt forward with his head down, ramming into Flareon with a sickening crack. She was then sent rolling away, until she finally came to a stop when she hit a tree.

"Good job Gabite," Cinder said, congratulating her Pokemon.

"It's not over yet!" Cole said, grinding his teeth together. "Get up Flareon!"

With an almighty effort, Flareon managed to struggle to her feet, panting heavily. She seemed to be leaning on her right legs, and her front left leg seemed to be bent in an awkward position.

"That's the way Flareon! Now use Take Down!"

"Are you insane?!" Cinder shouted at her brother. "Can't you see that Flareon is hurt? You should recall her before she gets seriously injured!"

"Don't tell me how to raise my Pokémon!" Cole fired back. "If Flareon pushes herself, she'll become even stronger. If not, she'll remain just as she is; a weakling, just like you."

"Hey look, a cloud," Blayze said as he started at the fluffy white mass moving slowly in the sky above him.

"That's crap and you know it. If you push your Pokémon too hard, eventually it will get hurt really badly, and you might not be able to battle with him or her anymore!"

"You really expect me to listen to a weaker trainer like you?" Cole sneered. "Enough waiting around Flareon, use Take Down now!"

Flareon weakly limped forward, only to fall down again, moaning in pain.

"That's enough," Soot said. "Flareon is unfit for battle. Gabite is the winner."

"What?!" Cole shouted, glaring at his father.

"You're anger is clouding your judgment Cole. Flareon is obviously unable to battle and no matter how much you scream and shout like a two year old, that's not going to change."

"Fine, return Flareon," Cole grumbled as he recalled his fallen Pokémon in a beam of red light.

"Great job Gabite, now come on back," Cinder said as she also recalled her Pokémon, who was smirking evilly.

"I hope you enjoyed your brief victory Cinder," Cole said as he enlarged his third Poke Ball. "But it stops here. Charizard, burn!"

Cole threw the red and white sphere, releasing a giant red dragon with large blue wings in a flash of light. He also had a cream colored belly, and his long tail ended in a ball of flames that burned brightly. His eyes narrowed as he started at Cinder, and he opened his mouth to let loose a large blast of flames with a roar.

"Wow, that's a big Charizard," Blayze remarked, forgetting about the clouds for a second.

"_Crap! He's using _Charizard_!"_ Cinder thought. _"How the heck am I supposed to defeat that?!"_

"What's the matter Cinder?" Cole asked innocently.

Cinder glared at her brother, before going back to her thoughts.

"_I can't just give up! There has to be a way to defeat that overgrown lizard. Charmander hasn't been in a tough battle before, so she's out. Not to mention the fact that she would be facing her evolved form. Combusken is my Flying type specialist, but I doubt she'll be strong enough to stand up to that Charizard. Bagon would probably too weak to take down Charizard as well. Torkoal has the best defense, but he might not be fast enough to counter attack. So that leaves…"_

Cinder turned around, and looked at her oldest friend, who was lying on the ground a few feet away, watching her. They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Typhlosion stood and shook himself. He then walked in front of his trainer, glancing lazily over at the Charizard he would be facing.

"I thought you would go with Typhlosion," Cole said, smirking. "He doesn't look like he's too interested in battling though."

"You just wait and see Cole," Cinder mumbled. "Alright Typhlosion, let's get fired up!"

Typhlosion yawned, before he gave a low growl, his back bursting into a blazing inferno.

"Seems kind of weak if you ask me. I bet he still isn't back up to strength after what happened to him at the Kanto League. Oh well, just makes it easier for us, eh Charizard?"

Charizard snorted, releasing a cloud of smoke, and smirked at Cinder and Typhlosion. Typhlosion growled, clearly unhappy about the way Cole had talked about him.

"We'll just see about that…" Cinder mumbled, Typhlosion nodding in agreement.

"You guys can sure talk a lot," Blayze remarked as he started juggling some pinecones.

"Let's start out strong Typhlosion, use Shadow Claw!"

Typhlosion growled, as he ran forward, his claws shrouded in a black aura. He then leapt at Charizard, the aura extending into a giant purple claw, crackling with energy.

"Block with your own Shadow Claw," Cole ordered.

Like Typhlosion, Charizard's claw also started glowing with the purple aura before extending into a giant purple claw as well. He then brought the claw forward, which collided with Typlosion's claw. The two attacks clashed against each other, neither of them giving an inch.

"Looks like that Typhlosion has some power after all, but let's see if he can handle this; Charizard, use Air Slash!"

Charizard smirked, before starting to power up a ball of wind in his mouth. He then released the swirling sphere of air at Typhlosion, sending him flying backwards. Typhlosion winced in pain as the wind tore at his face, but managed to dig his feet into the ground, managing to stop his backwards momentum. With a grunt, he dispersedu the Air Slash attack, and growled at Charizard.

"Let's fight back Typhlosion! Use Aerial Ace!"

"Counter with your own Aerial Ace Charizard!"

Typhlosion instantly got down on all four legs, and ran at Charizard, streaks of light surrounding his body. Charizard snorted, before flapping his wings, pushing himself off the ground. Flying up high, he surrounding himself with streaks of light just like Typhlosion's. He did a flip, and started flying back at Typhlosion. The two Pokémon collided, fighting for the upper hand. After a few seconds, Charizard grunted, and began flapping his wings. The extra surge of wind propelled Charizard forward, breaking through Typhlosion's attack and pushing him backwards.

"Typhlosion! Try to hit Charizard with a ThunderPunch!"

Typhlosion grunted, and brought his fist back as it started crackling with electricity. He then brought it forward, and punched Charizard's head. Charizard roared as the electricity coursed through his body, and quickly backed off, growling at Typhlosion.

"Try a Flamethrower Charizard," Cole commanded.

Charizard roared, releasing a stream of red-hot flames from his jaws at Typhlosion.

"Block it with a Gyro Ball Typhlosion!"

Typhlosion curled up into a ball, and started to spin. A glowing ring of white light started to form around him as he spun faster and faster. Charizard's Flamethrower hit the spinning Typhlosion, but the flames parted because of Typhlosion's spinning, and instead started to swirl around him.

"Now use those flames to power up your Flame Wheel, and use Rollout to hit Charizard!"

The flames around Typhlosion suddenly flared up, and he started rolling at Charizard at an alarmingly fast rate.

"Grab him," Cole commanded.

Charizard grunted, and tensed himself, waiting for Typhlosion's attack. Typhlosion kept on coming, and slammed into Charizard, pushing him back. Charizard snarled as he grabbed a hold of the flaming spinning fireball known as Typhlosion, and tried to stop the attack.

"Now use Blast Burn!" Cole shouted.

"Blast Burn?! When did your Charizard learn that?!" Cinder asked, startled.

Cole smirked.

"Oh, it's just something we picked up during our travels."

Charizard smirked as well, as he opened his jaws and starting to charge up a ball of fire that cracked with energy. He then leaned down, and shot the Blast Burn at point-blank range at Typhlosion. The fireball hit, and instantly exploded in a giant blast of fire and energy, sending both Charizard and Typhlosion flying back. Typhlosion landed with a thud on the ground, while Charizard managed to use his wings to gain control of himself, and managed to land on his feet.

"Typhlosion!" Cinder shouted as Typhlosion slowly got back to his feet. He glanced back at her and gave a thumbs-up, motioning to continue the battle.

"Okay, then let's do some damage while he can't move! Go in for a Shadow Claw!"

Typhlosion bounded forward, both of his claws glowing with a purple aura. The aura then expanded, forming two purple claws of aura, which crackled with energy. He then gave one last leap forward, and raked his claws against Charizard's white belly. Charizard roared in pain, but was unable to counter-attack due to the giant amount of energy it had taken to use his Blast Burn attack.

"Now jump back and use Rock Tomb to trap Charizard!"

Typhlosion jumped back, and stomped on the ground, sending four slabs of rock out of the earth at Charizard, trapping him in a tent-like structure.

"Like that's going to stop us! Charizard, break free and end this with Focus Blast!"

For a moment, all was peaceful. The Pidgey in the trees chattered quietly, the clouds drifted lazily by, and a slight wind blew, making the grass appear as if it was dancing to some kind of song that only they could hear. Then the world was ripped apart by an earth-shattering explosion. The Rock Tomb holding Charizard was blasted apart by the sheer power of the attack, sending rocks, fire, and pure energy flying everywhere at an alarmingly fast rate. Typhlosion didn't even have time to blink before he was hit by the blast, knocking him off his feet and sending him flying back towards the ridge that overlooked Blackthorn City.

Blayze yelped as his head was almost taken off by a large boulder that flew at him. He barely had time to duck before the large rock flew past him, missing him by a few inches, and hit a tree. The tree gave a horrible crack as the boulder snapped it in half. The boulder finally fell to the ground a few yards away, creating a huge skid mark in the earth that kicked up a massive cloud of soil and dust.

Cinder shrieked as the force of the explosion also blasted her backwards, knocking her into Combusken. Combusken gasped as both she and her trainer landed on their backs.

Yards away, Typhlosion hit the ground and bounced once, twice, three times before finally rolling to a stop right before the edge of the cliff. He laid there for a few seconds before weakly tried to get back up, and managed to prop himself up on his elbow before his strength failed him. He collapsed in a heap, and did not move.

Cole, stared on impassively at all of this, the explosion seeming to not affect him at all. In fact, the rocks seemed to part around him, never once coming close to hitting him.

As the smoke started to clear, everyone heard a mighty roar, and Charizard flew up into the air, releasing a steam of fire into the sky in celebration of his victory.

"Charizard, return," Cole said as he held up a Poke Ball. A red beam of light shot out of the button in the middle, hitting Charizard and sending him back inside.

"Typhlosion…," Cinder mumbled, barely able to comprehend what had happened.

"Your Pokémon are weak," Cole said as he walked over to his sister. "Any one of my Pokémon would have been able to withstand an attack like that, even a weakling like Flareon."

Cinder didn't respond. All of the color had drained out of her face as she started at the lifeless form of her closest friend. Combusken, however, did. She angrily jumped up and swung a fist at Cole's face. It never connected, however, as Combusken was suddenly stopped in midair by some unseen force.

"Pathetic," Cole growled as Combusken glared at him. A red and yellow human-like Pokemon emerged from the woods and silently walked over to Cole, his eyes glowing with a purple light. He had black bands tied around his ankles and neck, and a row of red spikes traveled down his back, ending at the base of his tail, the tip of which was aflame. His mouth and nose resembled a duck bill, and there were two lumps on his forehead with flaming tops. With a jerk of his head, Combusken was sent flying over to the left, crashing into a tree.

"Stop this fighting now!" Soot bellowed. He then walked over to Cinder, and helped his daughter to her feet.

"Come on, we need to get Typhlosion inside so we can see how badly he's hurt. Blayze, come here and help us!"

Blayze quickly ran over, and the three of them, along with Combusken, managed to lift Typhlosion, and start to carry him over to the house.

Cole watched on, staring as the four of them struggled to carry Typhlosion. Without a word, he and him Magmar turned, and walked silently into the forest.

Cinder's brain seemed to have been numbed. She barely registered the fact that she was walking, let alone carrying her best friend. Six months ago, she had almost lost him to a disease. Now, all that she could think about was that she had almost lost him again, only this time, it was entirely her fault.

* * *

**I'm…finally…done…**

**This chapter took quite a long time to write. I was planning on putting it up once I was halfway done with chapter three, but due to me being busy lately and not updating, I decided to put it up now.**

**Anyway, it looks like Cinder lost. Poor Typhlosion…**

**Keep in mind that Typhlosion still hasn't recovered all his strength from his illness. He's probably operating on eighty percent or so of his full strength. Well, he was, until he got beaten up by Charizard.**

**Plus, Blayze gets an appearance in this story, which takes place about three years after **_**Johto Journey**_**. And if he seems a lot more random than he is in **_**Johto Journey**_**, well, let's just say that you should never make Blayze do anything that he doesn't want to do, or else he will get distracted…a lot.**

**Speaking of **_**Johto Journey, **_**chapter 24 is all done and just needs to be edited. I'm extremely sorry for the long wait, and I hope to have it up shortly.**

**And don't forget to review. Tell me what I need to work on, what you like, or anything else you can think of. Please?**


	3. Aftermath

**Chapter 2: Aftermath**

**

* * *

**

It was a slightly cloudy night in Blackthorn City. A pale moon shone brightly upon on the city, and thousands of tiny stars glittered in the sky, only for large patches to be blocked out by the dark, fluffy masses. Down in the city, the street lamps shone brightly, illuminating the street below with a pale yellow light. The buildings were dark, their residents sleeping peacefully inside. Everyone that is, except for a darkly clad figure that was running across the roofs of the houses. He could barely be seen by the faint lighting as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, a dark cloak trailing behind him.

About a minute later, he came to the end of the line of houses, and quickly jumped off of the roof and into a dark alley. He paused for a second, listening for anything in the darkness, before continuing to make his way through the city. He was careful to keep to the shadows of the alleyways to avoid the street lamps and the light they gave off.

Eventually, he made his way to a large black lake on the edge of the city. He quickly took out a small sphere, and tossed it into the water with a quiet splash. There was a flash of light, and a giant, blue jellyfish-like creature emerged from the depths of the lake. He had two large red orbs with a small red orb in between the two on his large blue head. Underneath that was a smaller, black, and somewhat round head-like area, where two eyes looked at the man. A large blue beak could be seen under his cold eyes, and he also had multiple tentacles extending out of the bottom of his body, waving gently in the water of the lake.

"Tentacruel," the jellyfish bellowed.

"Quiet!" The man hissed as he jumped onto the Tentacruel. The jellyfish immediately cut off his shout, and glanced upwards at his trainer. "To the cave," he whispered, pointing to a black opening in the mountains. Tentacruel grunted in reply, and started swimming towards it.

Inside, the cave was soaked with perspiration and pitch black, the light from the moon and distant street lights unable to reach the enclosed space. Tentacruel didn't seem to be affected by the minimal lighting, however, and continued on fearlessly, making small splashing sounds as he swam. The sound bounced off the walls of the cave, amplifying it louder than it actually was.

After a while, a faint light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Soon, the cave seemed to open up again, until finally the darkly clad figure and his Tentacruel emerged in a second, larger lake, surrounded on all sides by sheer rock walls. The walls ended a few hundred feet in the air, leaving a large, almost round opening at the top that allowed the light from the moon and the stars to reach the hidden lake.

_It's a dormant volcano,_ the man thought silently to himself as he looked around. Indeed, the place he found himself was once a very active volcano millions of years ago. However, it had long since lost its ability to spew lava from its depths, and the remaining leftover molten rock had solidified. Eventually, it filled with rainwater, creating a lake that branched off to various other bodies of water thanks to the old lava tubes. _Of course they'd put the den here. It has natural openings for Pokémon to fly in through the top or swim in from a tunnel all the while being almost invisible if you flew over it unless the sun was in just the right position._

"Good job Tentacruel," the man whispered as he directed his Pokémon to a small piece of land that was created by various rocks sticking out of the water to his right. He quickly jumped off of the Jellyfish Pokémon and recalled him with a beam of red light, before looking around. The small piece of land that he was on wasn't very large, nor was any of the other rocks that managed to jut their way out into the lake. The walls surrounding the lake were much too steep to climb without special mountain climbing gear, and even then it would be risky thanks to the moisture from the lake.

As for the lake, it seemed fairly peaceful. There was no wind due to the sheer rocks surrounding it, and it seemed as if the few water Pokémon that inhabited it were asleep, or hiding. There was one odd phenomenon on the lake though. A black mass seemed to suddenly rise out of the water, larger than any of the rocks and more uniformed looking. Upon further investigation, the man could see that the mass was actually a house that had been built on various pillars of wood that disappeared into the dark waters below. The house's large wooden deck was surrounded by a spiked metal fence on all but one side, where two giant statues with long, serpentine creatures stood guard.

_So that's the Dragon's Den, huh?_ The thief thought. _This is going to be too easy._

The black haired man quickly brought two more Poké Balls out from his belt, and quietly opened them up. Two Pokémon emerged in two flashes of light, and stood silently for their orders. One was a small, black bird with a weird bunch of feathers on her head that from the right angle looked almost like a hat. Her tail feathers fluffed out wildly, which resembled the end of a broom. She had a large, yellow beak, and two small, red eyes, which started intensely at the man.

The second Pokémon resembled a small, black weasel. He had two large ivory claws on each hand, which gleamed in the moonlight, along with two smaller claws on his feet. Her left ear seemed to have a red feather sticking in front of it, and three more red feathers jutted out of his lower back. There were two yellow, oval-like markings on his chest and his forehead, and his eyes darted back and forth, taking in his surroundings.

"Murkrow, Sneasel, I need you to do search and disable any security this place may have," the man whispered. Both of his Pokémon nodded, before running off to do their jobs.

Murkrow flew silently through the air, carefully scanning the building below her. Opening her mouth slightly, she released a cloud of black smoke, which could barely be seen in the darkness of the night, even with the light from the moon. The smoke quickly settled on the wooden deck of the outside of the building, which revealed multiple crisscrossing infrared beams of light.

Now being able to see the lasers, Sneasel quickly ran across the side of the rock face skillfully, his sharp claws digging into the stone allowing him to do a hop run along the side, before jumping towards one of the rocks jutting out of the lake. He continued to jump from rock to rock, until he finally reached the edge of the house's deck. Quickly darting his way through the lasers, he reached one of the statues. Jumping onto the back of the statue, he opened a small panel in the back of the dragon's head, Sneasel quickly sliced through a bunch of wires using his razor-sharp claws. The statue's eyes illuminated a bright red color for a second, before fading out, along with half of the lasers. Moving quickly, Sneasel darted to the second statue and repeated the procedure, taking out the rest of the lasers.

Whistling quietly, the man signaled to his Murkrow to come back. She did so, landing on the man's shoulder.

"Excellent work as always," the man whispered, giving Murkrow a small, red, sphere of candy. Murkrow's head shot forward similar to a snake's, snatching up the sweet from her trainer. She chewed on it happily, a smile on her face.

"Now, would you please give me a lift to that house over there?"

Murkrow cawed quietly, spreading her wings. The man quickly grabbed a hold of the Darkness Pokemon's yellow talons as the bird took flight, pulling him into the air with her. With a huge amount of effort, Murkrow managed to carry the man over to the deck of the house before collapsing in a heap, breathing heavily.

"Excellent job Murkrow, return," the man whispered, taking out a Poké Ball and recalling his Pokémon with a beam of red light. Smiling, he replaced the red-and-white sphere back on his belt.

Looking around, he noticed Sneasel a little ways off, picking the lock to the house with his claws, a look of intense focus upon his face. With a small click, the lock snapped open, and Sneasel carefully removed it from the door, setting it down on the wooden platform.

"Good work Sneasel," the man said as he joined his Pokémon. "Now, keep your eyes open. We don't know what to expect in there."

Sneasel nodded, and the man slowly lifted his hand and carefully clasped the doorknob, weary of a trap being set off by his touch. After a few seconds of waiting, he started turning it slowly, the doorknob squeaking slightly in protest. The man and his Pokémon freeze, listening for the sounds of anyone, or thing, that may have stirred from the noise. Not hearing anything after a few seconds, the man finished turning the knob, and the door swung open with a small squeak, which sounded like a blood-curtailing scream in the silence of the night.

The man took a cautious step inside, and two fires instantly ignited on both sides of him. He froze as more fires suddenly ignited down a line on the two sides of a rectangular room, making two rows of swirling flames. The extra lighting only added to the creepiness of the place; the dancing flames giving off a strange light that seemed to only intensify the shadows around the room. Sneasel hissed quietly at the flames, eying them wearily. Obviously, being part Ice, she and fire of any kind really didn't get along.

"Keep your guard up Sneasel," the man whispered as he tiptoed forward, his eyes sweeping the room for any movement that may suggest that he and Sneasel were not alone. That was harder than it sounded, however, as the moving shadows made it appear as if someone was about to step out and confront him. Indeed, it almost seemed as if the shadows themselves were alive. No one confronted them, however, and he and Sneasel managed to soundlessly make their way safely to the end of the room.

Here, a large podium was raised up on a platform, obviously there for someone to use while conducting a speech or meeting. Behind that sat twelve elegant wooden chairs that appeared to be quite old and hand carved by a master craftsmen. None of this really mattered to the man, however, as he quickly scanned the rest of the room.

Suddenly, he found it: a faint rectangular outline near the corner of the platform, hidden by the dancing shadows. Because of its particular position, it was almost impossible to make it out in the faint lighting, and he probably would have never noticed it if he hadn't been looking it.

Moving quickly yet quietly, the man and Sneasel made their way up the platform, and inspected the hidden door.

"_Could it really be that easy?"_ the man thought, before reaching out with his hand and pushing the door back, before sliding it the right. The door easily slid open, almost as if it was welcoming him inside.

Taking a cautious step into the dark room, the man waited for something to happen, some kind of trap to spring and attack him, or an alarm to go off. The only thing that happened was a tiny flame springing to life in a stone basin, filling the room with enough light for the thief to see clearly.

It was a fairly small room, only large enough to fit one or two people inside. There was a large shelf above, which held the stone basin with the flame in it as well as various other items. On the ground in front of the man was a large glass case filled with various items resting on a giant red cushion.

The man smiled as he gazed upon the case. It was filled with various expensive-looking items, most of which appeared to be made with either gold or silver. This wasn't what caught his attention though. In the middle of the case, resting on the satin cushion, was an old, dirty looking fang.

"Jackpot!" the man whispered excitedly. Sneasel nodded in agreement, before walking over to the case, extending his claws. Taking care to make as little noise as possible, he quickly scratched a circle into the glass before yanking the circle of glass away from the case. Carefully reaching into the case, Sneasel managed to grab the tooth with one of his clawed hands, hooking it with his two claws. Using the upmost care, he lifted it out of the container, through the circle, and out into the air.

"Excellent job Sneasel," the man whispered as he took out a small, brown box from the pocket of his pants. Opening it quickly, he revealed a cushioned-lined case with a second fang in it. Carefully removing the second fang, he gave it to Sneasel, who handed the real fang to the dark haired boy. The boy quickly grabbed a black cloth pouch from his belt, dropping the fang into it.

As the man tied the pouch back to his belt and replaced the box in his pocket, Sneasel carefully placed the duplicate fang into the glass box. After he was finished, he took the panel of circular glass and placed it back on the case. Blowing quietly, Sneasel released a stream of cold air from his mouth, freezing the circle of glass back to the case.

"Hopefully, no one will notice that," the thief whispered as he examined Sneasel's handiwork. "I guess that is about as good as a job as any though. Now come on, let's get out of here."

The thief turned and took a single step when the floor below him started to sink. The thief managed to utter a curse just before an alarm pierced the silence of the night, nearly deafening the dark haired boy and his Sneasel. Cursing quietly to himself, the thief quickly tried to work out a plan how to get out.

"Oh well," the man said as he took out another red-and-white sphere from his belt. "Since they already know I'm here, we don't have to be stealthy anymore…"

* * *

Two figures quickly raced towards the Dragon's Den. They had both been awakened by an alert, signifying that something was wrong was happening. One was riding on a large, blue and yellow serpentine creature, who was plowing his way through the water. He had four white fins on his back, and a large, gaping mouth with two blue whiskers positioned directly under it. A woman with long blue hair tied in a ponytail was riding on his head, an intense look on her face. She was wearing a tight-fitting blue outfit, blue high-heeled boots with two black rings at the top on each one, and a pair of blue gloves with a similar black ring at the end of each one. She also had a black cape, which flapped behind her in the wind.

The second man had spiky, reddish-brown hair. He was wearing a long sleeved blue shirt with three orange lines going down the front of it. The sleeves were red at the cuffs, and were separated from the blue by a zigzagging orange line. His pants were also blue, and he had brown boots with two horizontal orange stripes at the top. Finally, he also had a black belt, and a large black cape with a collar. He was riding on the back of an orange, dragon-like Pokémon, who had a scaly, ivory colored belly. He had a single small horn on his head, and his wings were a blue-green color.

"Do you know what's going on at the Dragon's Den?" the woman shouted, trying to make her voice carry over the howl of the wind.

"No idea," the man replied. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see what awaits us there."

The house was getting closer and closer by the second, when suddenly, an orange beam of energy shot out of the wall of the building, blasting part of the front of the house and making both the man and woman's Pokémon swerve to avoid it.

"Was that a Hyper Beam?" the woman asked as she regained her balance on her Pokémon.

"I believe it was. Come on, we should hurry over there to see what's wrong."

At that moment, a large, dinosaur like creature jumped out of the hole made by the Hyper Beam, and flew directly upwards, heading for the opening at the top of the cliff walls. There was just enough light to make out a large-jawed creature with razor teeth, brown leathery skin, a tail that ended in a triangle, and two large leathery purple wings.

"Was that an Aerodactyl?" The woman exclaimed as she watched the Fossil Pokémon fly out of sight.

"I believe it was. I'll go after it," the man replied, turning his orange dragon in the direction Aerodactyl had flown.

"I'll see what happened at the Dragon's Den," the woman said motioning for him to get going.

"Good luck Clair," the man said as his orange dragon took off, flying quickly after the dinosaur Pokémon.

"You too Lance," Clair mumbled as she turned her attention back to the Dragon's Den.

* * *

Cinder heard the knocking at her door, but she ignored it. After all, what would be the point of answering it? It was unlocked, and if someone really wanted to come inside, they could do it themselves.

After a few seconds, the doorknob turned, and Cinder's mother walked in, carrying a tray with a sandwich and a glass of water on it.

"I thought you might be hungry," she explained as she set the tray down on a table beside the bed. Cinder grunted in response, continuing to stare at the stretcher in front of her.

Her mother sighed as well, before sitting down on the bed next to Cinder, throwing an arm around her daughter's shoulders. Cinder continued to ignore her, choosing instead to continue to stare at the stretched out white sheets in front of her. Anna looked as well, and saw the battered form of Typhlosion lying on the stretcher. He was covered with scratches and bruises, and the heat radiating off of his was intense. Even sitting a few feet away felt like you were sitting in the middle of a sauna, and Cinder's mother had already started to sweat. And yet, Cinder didn't seem to be affected by the heat at all.

Anna stroked her daughter's hair lovingly as she remembered the last couple of days. Cinder had refused to leave Typhlosion's side except to use the bathroom, and even then she had made sure that Blayze, Soot, or she was keeping an eye on him. Cinder herself was intent on nursing him back to health. Cole, meanwhile, had been out of the house a lot, either training with his Pokémon or going down to the city. Never once had he mentioned the battle, but nor had he gone up to see Cinder either.

"You know the doctor said that Typhlosion was going to be fine, right?" Cinder's mother finally asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

Cinder grunted in response, still only looking at Typhlosion. Her mother sighed, before continuing.

"Anyway, I thought that since you haven't been out of the house in a while, that you would like to go out and have a bit of fun. After all, the Dragon Festival is tonight. I know it's one of your favorite things about Blackthorn."

This was true. Cinder had always loved the Dragon Festival ever since she had moved there when she was eight. The colorful lights and special ceremonies had captured her attention and imagination when she was younger. Not to mention that she had been lucky enough to help the Blackthorn City Gym Leader, Clair, in the festival the year before she set off on her journey.

"I'm not going," Cinder grumbled.

"Why?" Anna asked, slightly surprised.

Cinder mumbled something inaudible, and shrugged her mother's arm off of her shoulder. She sighed, before standing up, Cinder's bed creaking as she did so.

"Please eat something at least," Her mother said pleadingly, her eyes full of concern.

Cinder didn't respond verbally, but did pick up the sandwich her mother had brought her and took a small bite of it.

Her mother gave a small nod of approval, before quietly slipping out of Cinder's room, silently closing the door behind her. Cinder didn't even notice she had gone, as she had returned her attention back to Typhlosion, all thoughts of her mother and the sandwich forgotten.

* * *

"How's she doing Anna?" Soot asked Cinder's mom as she took the last few steps down the stairs.

"She's still really upset," Anna said, sighing.

"Of course she is. What were you expecting?" Blayze asked as he lazily flipped through random channels on the television hanging off the wall while lying on an old, slightly battered couch. "And let me guess, she also told you that she didn't want to go the festival."

"Well…" Anna mumbled, biting her lower lip.

"Thought so," Blayze said as he stood up and stretched his stiff limbs. He lazily flipped the TV back off, tossing the remote on the couch behind him without a backwards glance.

"Wait a second," Soot said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at Blayze, who gave an innocent smile in response. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Why, I'm going to go talk some sense into my sister. Since when did that become a crime worthy of interrogation?" Blayze asked.

"And since when did you become the voice of reason? Better yet, when did you _get_ a voice of reason?" Soot asked.

"Hey, people change," Blayze fired back, and began moving towards the stairs. He didn't stop there, however, as he walked past both of his parents and the staircase, instead opening a side door leading into the kitchen.

"I thought you said that you were going to go talk to your sister?" Anna asked as Blayze began rummaging around in the refrigerator.

"What?" Blayze asked, pulling his head back out of the fridge to stare at his parents. "I can't face the wrath of my sister on an empty stomach."

* * *

Cinder sat silently as she stared at her starter and closest friend, Typhlosion. As she softly stroked his feverish fur, she couldn't help but to think back to the first day they had met…

_Cinder eagerly hurried forward, pulling her father's arm with hers in her eagerness to get to Professor Elm's lab._

"_Slow down Cinder. The Pokémon aren't going anywhere," Soot said, chuckling as his daughter rolled her eyes and pulled on his arm even more._

"_But we need to get there first so I can get a Cyndaquil!" She replied, her voice a mixture of emotions. She was practically bursting with excitement at the knowledge that in a few hours she would be on her very own journey. Of course, she was also a bit afraid of what lay ahead of her, not to mention that she was also worried that she would be too late to receive her Cyndaquil, and would be forced to take a weak Pokémon like Chikorita, or, even worse, a Water-type like Totodile._

_A few seconds later, Cinder was able to see the lab ahead of her. It was an interesting building, two or three stories high, and was painted a light yellow color with a red shingled roof. Two large glass windows were positioned to each side of the double red doors. There were also various, smaller windows around the building, showing various machines and the occasional Pokémon inside._

_She barely saw any of this, however, as she continued to run forward, charging straight for the double doors. Not breaking stride, Cinder pushed them open and ran straight into a large room filled with various machines. The floor itself was covered in white tiles without a speck of dirt visible on them. Near the back of the room were two doors, one on each side of the wall, which Cinder assumed led to other parts of the lab. Also in the back was a set of stairs, leading to the second floor where a large, open office was clearly visible from even the first story, filled with various desks and computers._

_However, the main thing Cinder saw was a group of people, most of whom were wearing white lab coats, standing in a circle around some sort of machine on the ground floor. To her dismay, she saw two kids around her age, and with a pang of panic she realized that she may be too late; her Cyndaquil already given to someone before she even had a chance to meet him._

"_Oh, hello ther-" A man with short brown hair started to say as he heard Cinder approaching him. His sentence was cut short, however, when Cinder, who was still running, ran straight into him, sending them both to the ground._

"_Oh, I'm sorry!" Cinder shouted with horror, quickly getting off the man, her face flushed a deep red color. The other men wearing lab coats started chuckling at the event that had just transpired, while the two kids were both shaking with laughter._

"_Oh, it's perfectly alright," the man Cinder had knocked down said as he started patting the ground, apparently looking for something. Cinder wondered what he could possibly be doing when she noticed a pair of glasses a little ways away from the man's hand. She was just about to point them out when the man she had knocked over grabbed a hold of them. "Aha!" he said as he placed the glasses back on his head. Afterwards, he quickly stood up; attempting to smooth out the newly formed wrinkles on his already crumpled blue shirt he was wearing, while at the same time gathering up some of the papers he had dropped. "See? No harm done. Anyway, what can I do for you young lady?"_

"_I-I'm he-here to get m-my first P-P-Pokémon sir!" Cinder stammered, her face turning an even darker shade of red._

"_Ah, you must be…um, Cinnamon, right? We've been waiting for you." The man motioned to the two other kids there. The first one was a girl with long, curly blond hair with green eyes. She was wearing a simple yellow short sleeved shirt with two buttons green buttons at the top. The ends of her sleeves and shirt were green as well. Her hands were tightly clenched around the sides of her sparkly green skirt as she gave a nervous glance at Cinder, and quickly looked away, biting her lower lip. Overall, she didn't look like the traveling sort of girl, and Cinder doubted that she would last very long on any sort of journey._

_The second kid, however, looked completely relaxed as he gave Cinder a friendly smile, his hands in the pockets of his blue jacket with white lining. His spiky blue hair jutted in multiple directions, with a few parts of it falling into his clear blue eyes, completely obscuring one of them from view. He was wearing a clean white shirt under his jacket, along with light blue pants that had two white stripes traveling down the outside of both legs. He also had a brand new pair of blue and white running shoes. Finally, his outfit was completed with a white scarf that was wrapped around his neck._

"_Uh, it's actually Cinder sir," she mumbled, biting her bottom lip nervously, glancing from the man to the two other kids._

"_Yes, that's what I said. Anyway," the man said, stammering slightly as he pushed his glasses back up from the end of his nose. "Now that we're all here, I guess that means we can start." Walking over to the machine the other men wearing the lab coats were standing around, the man Cinder had run into pressed a small, red button. The dome at the top of it quickly split open, revealing three red-and-white spheres each lying in a half circle indentation._

"_Now then," the man said, picking up the three Poke Balls. "Here are the three Pokémon you can choose from."_

_The man opened the three spheres, releasing three very different creatures in a flash of white light. The first one was a small, green, four legged creature. She had a large green leaf attached to the top of her head, and a ring of green buds around her neck, which vaguely resembled a necklace. Her four short, stubby legs all had one nailed toe at the end, and she smiled at the three kids, wagging her small green tail enthusiastically._

_The second was a small, blue, crocodile-like creature, the most noticeable part of his body being his large, strong jaws. He stood on his two hind legs, which ended in two flipper-like feet, while his arms were shorter, and ended in three pointed claws. A yellow V-shaped pattern was visible on his chest and a row of red spines ran along his upper back and tail. He looked at the three kids, smiled and clapped his hands, before leaping at the blond haired girl. The girl shrieked as the tiny crocodile bit down on her hair, and two of the men wearing lab coats rushed to help her._

_The final Pokémon was standing on all fours, like the first one, only he had sleek blue fur covering his back and soft, cream colored fur covering his face, belly, arms, and legs. He had a long, slim snout that took up the majority of his face, and four yellow spots of fur on his back. He yawned loudly, before curling up into a ball, attempting to fall asleep._

_Cinder's pulse quickened at the sight of the final Pokémon. Out of the three Pokémon that were just released, Cyndaquil was the only one that she wanted. She couldn't even bear to think that one of the other two kids standing next to her might take him away from her._

"_Now then," the man said as he finally managed to remove the blue crocodile from the girl's hair. "Shall we begin? Let's see…why don't you go ahead and pick first Amanda?"_

_The blond hair girl sniffed as she finished wiping away a few tears that had managed to find their way outside from when she was attacked by the crocodile. She still nodded, though, and walked up to the three Pokémon. She took extra care to step around the man holding the crocodile before coming to a stop in front of the remaining Pokémon, studying them. The green one waved at her, while the Cyndaquil continued to snooze, ignoring Amanda completely._

"_I want that one," Amanda said, pointing at the green Pokémon why cheered happily, waving the leaf around on her head._

"_Ah, that would be the Grass-type Pokémon, Chikorita," the man holding the crocodile said as the tiny lizard attempted to jump and clamp onto the girl's hair once again. "Could you please get Chikorita's Poke Ball for me George?"_

"_Sure thing Professor Elm," one of the other men wearing a lab coat said. He quickly retrieved one of the three Poké Balls that had come from the machine, and handed it to the blond haired girl. "There you go."_

"_Now then Jack, why don't you go ahead and choose your Starter Pokémon next?" Professor Elm suggested, making Cinder groan in frustration._

"_It's an easy choice," the blue haired boy replied, walking up to the Professor. "I want Totodile."_

_Hearing his name, the blue crocodile wiggled his way out of Elm's grasp, and jumped at Jack. The Totodile's strong jaws clamped around the top of Jack's head, but instead of crying out in pain or surprise, he just laughed and calmly reached up and grabbed the blue crocodile. The Totodile quickly let go, and waved his arms happily at Jack, grinning from ear to ear._

_Meanwhile, upon hearing the boy named Jack choose Totodile, Cinder couldn't help but punch the air and give a slight squeal of joy. With everyone in the room staring at her, Cinder ran over to the curled up Cyndaquil, and in one swift movement she scooped him up into her arms. Not expecting to be picked up suddenly, Cyndaquil started to squirm and struggle, only to be crushed in a hug by Cinder._

"_I take it you're happy with your Starter?" Professor Elm asked, smiling at Cinder. "Anyway, it looks like we're pretty much done here…"_

"_Uh, Professor?" one of the assistants said, raising their hand slightly. "What about the Poké Balls and the Pokédex?"_

"_Oh yes, that's right!" Elm said, smacking his forehead. Reaching over to the machine, Elm pulled out the final two Poke Balls, and handed one to Cinder, the other to Jack. "Those are Cyndaquil and Totodile's Poké Balls. You can use those to carry them around."_

_Two of the assistant researchers then walked up to Elm, each carrying a try with very different objects on them. The first tray had a small pile of red and white spheres, enough for all three kids to get five Poké Balls each. The second tray had three different electronic devices, which slightly resembled a double screened hand held gaming system, each of them in different colors; orange, white, and gold._

"_First, here are some Poké Balls for each of you." Professor Elm said as he picked up the pile of red-and-white spheres and handed five to each of the three kids. "You will need these if you plan on catching Pokémon out in the wild and strengthening your team."_

_Turing back to his assistants, Professor Elm picked up the three electronic devices, before returning his attention back to the young trainers._

"_These things are called Pokédexes. They have information about all of the known species of Pokémon in Johto, all of the known moves those Pokémon can use, and many other different applications that are vital to beginning trainers."_

_He then handed one Pokédex to each of the kids; the orange one to Cinder, the white one to Jack, and the golden one to Amanda._

"_Well now, I believe that's all I can do for you. Now it's time for each of you to embark on your very own journey. I'm sure that each of you will be successful in your endeavors, whatever they are."_

_With a nod, Professor Elm turned, and headed up to the study area, while the various assistants scattered in all directions to continue their work, leaving the three slightly overwhelmed kids to themselves._

_

* * *

_

A knock on her door suddenly snapped Cinder back to the present. Before she could say anything, the door suddenly burst open, nearly flying off its hinges in the process, and a large, black dog pounced on her. Cinder yelped as the dog expertly pinned her to the bed, his front paws pressing down on her shoulders and making her unable to move her arms very well.

"Good work Houndoom," a boy said happily as he moved into Cinder's line of vision.

"_Blayze?_ What the heck do you think you're doing?" Cinder shouted angrily at her brother.

"What do you think you're doing?" Blayze asked, grinning happily.

"I'm not doing anything! I was…"

"Exactly," Blayze said, cutting his sister off. "You've been stuck up here for days, doing nothing at all. Sure, you say that you're taking care of Typlosion, but there's nothing else you can do really. In fact, all your worry is probably making it _harder_ for Typlosion to recover. Pokémon feed off the emotions of their trainer's, and a constant worry and slight starvation of his trainer can't be good for him, especially since he's trying to recover. If you don't stop now, think of all the irreversible damage it could have on him. He may never want to battle again for fear of getting hurt, because it would indirectly hurt you. His personality could be completely altered, most likely for the worse."

"Don't tell me what to do," Cinder grumbled quietly, making Blayze sigh.

"Come on! Doesn't anything get past that thick skull of yours? Stop worrying about Typhlosion. He knew that eventually something would happen to him, that one day he would be hurt fairly badly in battle, but he accepted his fate for you. And now you're just making it worse by worrying about him all the time! It's not your fault that he got hurt."

"Yes it is!" Cinder shouted suddenly, causing the Houndoom on top of her to cry out in surprise from the volume of his voice. He lost his footing on Cinder's shoulders, and his two front paws slipped off. Taking advantage to this, Cinder shoved the Dark Pokémon off of her, not even hearing the thump as Houndoom hit her floor, and quickly jumped out of the bed, getting right into Blayze's face.

"_I_ was the one who sent Typhlosion out to battle that…that… monster Cole calls a Charizard! _I_ should have known he was still too weak from his illness to take on something that powerful, but instead _I_ sent him out to the front lines like a fool, and just look at what happened to him! He got utterly and completely destroyed! He never even stood a chance!"

"You couldn't have known something like that was going to happen!" Blayze shouted back. "And you can't keep babying Typhlosion! Sooner or later you were going to have to send him out to battle, and let's face it; any of your other Pokémon would have also been hurt fighting that Charizard. If you can't handle the fact that your Pokémon are going to get hurt as a result of battle eventually, you might as well give up being a trainer. In fact, I don't think you should even be able to compete as a trainer after the way you've been acting recently. Pokémon Trainers are supposed to handle problems head on, not hide in their room and cry like little girls!"

"Shut up!" Cinder shouted, and in one swift moment, sent her fist flying forward at Blayze's head. She didn't even hide her smile as she felt her fist connect with the soft skin of her brother's nose, sending him stumbling backwards to land on the ground.

The Houndoom growled as he saw what happened to his master, and was about to pounce on the insolent girl when Blayze held up his hand, signaling him to stand down. Using his other hand, Blayze gingerly tried to stop the flow of blood that was dripping out of his nose and onto his shirt and face.

"Nice punch," he mumbled, wincing in pain. "See, there's the Cinder I know. She's not some girl that goes and hides away in her room after every loss. She's a fighter, and she's not afraid to show you that."

Breathing heavily to try and calm herself down, Cinder couldn't help but sigh. As much as she hated to admit it, everything Blayze had said had been true. It was time for her to start acting like a real trainer, if not for her sake then for Typhlosion's.

"Thanks," she finally said as Blayze managed to stop his nose from bleeding.

"You're welcome. Every once in a while, everyone needs someone to come along and give them a reality check. Of course, you usually don't get punched in the face for your good deed, but I guess there's nothing we can do about that now, eh?"

"Yeah…sorry about that. You were just saying all these…things, and deep down, I sort of knew they were true, I guess. I just didn't want to admit it. You just made me so mad! And, well, you can kind of see what happened."

"No need to apologize. Now then, are you ready to go?"

"Go where?" Cinder asked, slightly confused.

"Why, to the Dragon Festival of course! How could you forget about that?"

"Oh…right, the festival. I guess I probably should start getting ready. I'm in desperate need of a good shower."

"And I'm not?" Blayze asked, motioning at the large red stain on his white shirt he was wearing, making them both laugh.

"Anyway, I guess I'll let you get ready," Blayze said, after an awkward pause of silence. "Just don't go back to sulky Cinder while I'm gone. I really don't want to get punched again."

"Don't worry," Cinder said. "I'm better now."

Blayze nodded. "Well then, it looks like my work here is done. Just one last question before I go."

"Yes?" Cinder asked suspiciously, wondering what her brother could want from her.

"You going to finish that?" Blayze asked, motioning to her sandwich.

"Hey, I haven't eaten anything for a few days," Cinder pointed out, snatching up the sandwich and taking a rather large bite. Blayze sighed.

"So this is the thanks I get for helping you out, eh?"

Cinder sighed. "Fine," she grumbled, ripping the sandwich in half and handing the unbitten part to Blayze, who quickly snatched it up and devoured it in two bites.

"Ah, much better. Thanks sis! Now then, let's get going Houndoom."

"Doom," the dog barked, as he and Blayze left Cinder's room, closing the door shut behind them.

Turning around, Cinder returned her attention back to Typhlosion, who seemed to be smiling slightly in his sleep. He even physically looked like he was feeling better, a little color returning to his face.

"Get better soon Typhlosion," Cinder whispered.

* * *

**So, it looks like Cinder's back to normal. And it's all thanks to Blayze. Where would we be without Cinder's younger brother? Things would definitely be less interesting, that's for sure.**

**Plus, you guys also got to see how Cinder and Typhlosion met. Also, there are some hints of what is to come in that scene.**

**Truthfully, there's something bugging me about this chapter. Something just seems a bit off about it to me. Ah well, it's likely that it's just something in my head.**

**I'd like to thank Kyuuketsuki Fang for giving me the idea of a robbery to kick off the chapter. Although the OC himself is my own creation. And don't worry, we'll be seeing more of the mysterious thief soon enough, as in next chapter, haha.**

**The Dragon Festival will be coming up next chapter, along with a few unexpected surprises. A lot of surprises actually.**

**Anyway, as always, please review! Tell me what I could do better, what I need to work on, what I did a good job on, things like that.**


	4. Secrets and Surprises

**Chapter 3: Secrets and Surprises**

* * *

Using one hand to shield his eyes from the sun, Lance stared at the brown, dinosaur-like Pokémon that was flying approximately two hundred yards in front of him. He had been tracking the intruder that had broken into the Dragon's Den for about fourteen hours nonstop, and the signs of this strenuous activity were clearly showing on his Dragonite. The large yellow dragon was covered in a layer of sweat, and was breathing heavily from having to carry around his trainer for so long without any breaks.

However, the Aerodactyl they were chasing seemed to be in an even worse shape than Dragonite. Even in his weakened state, Dragonite was still gaining on the Fossil Pokémon slowly but surely.

After a few more minutes of flying, Lance grunted, and leaned down close to his Dragonite's head in order for his partner to hear him over the wind. "Let's end this chase now Dragonite. Do you think you can fire a Hyper Beam?"

Dragonite grunted in response, but began charging a small ball of yellow energy in front of his mouth. In his exhausted state, it took a while for Dragonite to gather enough energy for a relatively powerful Hyper Beam, but after about a minute, he was ready. Taking a deep breath, Dragonite focused in on the Aerodactyl, took aim…

…And was suddenly hit in the head by something small and sharp. The attack really didn't hurt him much, but it was enough to move Dragonite's head ever so slightly downwards, causing his Hyper Beam to fly wide of its target.

"Mur, Murkrow!" A black bird cackled as she flew away from Dragonite. Dragonite growled, but was unable to muster up enough energy for another attack to knock the annoying bird out of the sky.

"Stupid Murkrow," Lance grumbled. Somehow, the black bird heard him, and circled around in the air, facing the Johto Champion once again. With another caw of her name, she dove, aiming straight at Lance. Lance reached for a Poké Ball on his belt, but his reaction speed was sorely lacking compared to Murkrow's speed, and the Darkness Pokémon slammed into his chest. Fortunately, Lance was able to hold onto his Dragonite and not fall and splatter into a million pieces on the ground below. Unfortunately for him, he had to deal with one very pissed off Murkrow, who, soon after hitting him, had begun jabbing and scratching at his face thousands of feet above the ground. In fact, he couldn't even call for a second Pokémon to help him out as it took both arms to shield his face properly from the psychotic bird.

Not only that, but Dragonite seemed to be in trouble as well. He was serving wildly in the air for some strange reason. At the same time, the air around them had begun to get colder by the second, dropping about ten degrees in a very short amount of time.

This continued for about fifteen minutes, but it felt like an eternity to Lance and Dragonite. At one point, Dragonite swerved sharply downwards, but was a bit too slow to avoid the thing coming straight at them, and it ended up nicking Lance's left elbow. He cried out in pain and surprise from the unexpected attack as his elbow was suddenly covered in a small layer of ice.

"An Ice Beam," Lance managed to mutter before Dragonite performed another aerial maneuver, this time a roll to the right that forced Lance to hold onto his friend's back tightly with his legs, in an attempt to dodge another attack.

Eventually, there came a point in which Murkrow suddenly stopped his attack on Lance for no reason at all. It was almost as if one moment she was there, and the next she had disappeared into thin air. Surprised, Lance cautiously pulled his arms away from his face just in time to see Murkrow frantically flying off to the left as fast as she could possibly fly. He barely had time to wonder why she would suddenly give up her attack when Dragonite roared, bringing Lance's attention back to the battle at hand.

The Aerodactyl that they had been chasing all day had turned around and was heading straight at them. On his back sat a man entirely dressed in black, including a black jacket, a black shirt, and black pants. He was also wearing a tattered black scarf that covered his mouth and nose, while a mass of long black hair that could have hid his eyes sat on top of his head, if he was standing still that is. Right now, however, his hair was being blown back by the wind, revealing two piercing blue eyes. There was also a small black Sneasel on the back of the Aerodactyl, which Lance assumed had been firing the Ice Beam attacks at them.

Lance barely saw all this, however, as his attention was mainly focused on the giant, brown Aerodactyl flying straight at him. His body was already surrounded by long, swirling, golden bands of energy, and as Lance watched, the Aerodactyl's entire body was surrounded by a pink bubble of energy with golden streaks spinning around the aura.

Dragonite tried desperately to pull up to avoid the attack, but once again he was just a bit too slow. The attack grazed his scaly belly, the spinning energy bubble around Aerodactyl dealing huge amounts of damage and bringing a cry of pain from the Dragon-type Pokémon.

"Dragonite!" Lance shouted as his Pokémon wobbled in the air, trying to take control of his flight path again. For a few tense seconds, Dragonite struggled in the air, flapping his wings wildly, before he finally straightened out. He exhaled loudly, and gave Lance a thumbs-up. Lance smiled at his partner, and a split second later, the small black bird slammed into him again. He never saw the Murkrow coming, and when the Darkness Pokémon hit his shoulder, the impact slid his body to the side, destroying his center of gravity on Dragonite.

Lance flailed his arms, desperately trying to regain his balance, but the Murkrow refused to give up, continuing to push against him mercilessly until Lance finally slipped off of Dragonite's slick back.

For a second, it almost felt as if he was floating in the air. It was a sort of weightless feeling, almost like he was floating on a cloud. Then, a second later, Lance plummeted to the ground, leaving behind a laughing Murkrow and a startled Dragonite.

After his initial shock, Dragonite sprang into action. Tucking in his wings, he dove after his master and friend in a desperate attempt to save his life. Lance flailed his arms as he fell, trying to grab onto his partner and stop his aerial plunge. Dragonite extended his own arms as far as he could strech, and after a few seconds of struggling, eventually managed to grab hold of Lance's gloved hand. Just as Dragonite began to straighten out from his plunge, however, a beam of blue, icy energy and a black ball crashed into Dragonite's back.

Dragonite roared as his wings were partially frozen by the beam, preventing his attempts to ascend back into the air. Instead, the duo continued to fall as the man on the Aerodactyl silently looked on. The last thing he saw of the Johto Champion was him and Dragonite disappear into the canopy of the forest below.

* * *

"Look who finally showed up," Cole grunted. Cinder glared at him as she walked down the last few steps of the stairs, her shoes making a tapping noise as they touched the wooden boards. She had dawned a red dress for the occasion along with a pair of shiny red flats, which Anna had forced upon her. Her unruly hair had been curled somewhat, and hung down her back.

"Now, now, no need to get your sister all riled up again." Soot said, stepping up behind Cole and putting a hand on his shoulder. Soot had also dressed up for the occasion, dawning a wrinkly white collared shirt and a pair of black pants. Cole, meanwhile, had refused to follow the rest of his family, and instead was wearing his usual clothes.

Cole chose to grunt in response to his father, and shrugged Soot's hand off of his shoulder.

"Geeze, would you stop being such a drama queen Cole?" Blayze asked, who was currently sitting upside down in a chair, with his head dangling over the edge where his feet would normally be, and his feet reclining against the headrest. He was wearing a dark blue suit jacket over a gray T-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. On his feet was a pair of flip-flops, which had a flame design on the top of each.

"Blayze dear, you look absolutely ridiculous," Anna said, shaking her head at her son's choice of apparel. She was wearing a blue dress similar to Cinder's, except hers had tiny sparkles dotted all over the fabric, creating a twinkling effect. She had put her hair up in a bun, but it was already coming loose. Her high heels also made a clacking noise as she descended the stairs, which was arguably even louder then Cinder's shoes.

"Are we all ready to go?" Anna asked as she passed Soot, Cinder, and Cole to retrieve her tiny purse from a nearby hook on the wall.

"Just about," Soot said. "I need to go check on the…you-know-what's. I have a feeling that it will happen soon, if not tonight then tomorrow."

At this, Anna's brow furrowed as she frowned, appearing to think deeply about something. "Tonight of all nights? I was really looking forward to a family night out."

Soot chucked, a deep noise that resonated from the back of his throat. "You know how these things go. Cole will run off the first chance he gets, Cinder will most likely be dragged off by some random trainer from the Gym, and Blayze will get distracted by something and ultimately separated from us. Nah, it's better if you four go on ahead. I'll catch up with you later."

Anna sighed, before motioning with her arm for Cinder, Cole, and Blayze to follow her. "Good luck with…well, you know." She said to Soot as she crossed the threshold of the front door.

"There's no need to worry. Everything will be just fine." Soot replied, waving his family off.

"Hey, what were mom and dad talking about back there?" Cinder whispered to Blayze as she walked beside him, Cole trudging ahead of them on the road with his hands stuffed in his pockets and Anna behind them, her heels clacking loudly on the paved driveway.

Blayze shrugged, the sleeves of his suit jacket falling over his hands. "No idea. But then again, I have no idea what people are talking about most of the time anyway."

* * *

Blackthorn City was bustling with people by the time Cinder, Blayze, and Anna arrived. Cole had disappeared a while ago, melting into the thong of people that came every year to celebrate the sheer beauty and power of the Dragon-type. Venders had set their stalls up everywhere, and were selling various foods and souvenirs, such as masks and small models of Dragon-type Pokémon. Everything was brightly lit thanks to hundreds of lanterns that lined both sides of the streets, casting a pale orange glow over everything and allowing people to see in the darkness.

Various trainers and their Dragon-type Pokémon had chosen to attend the festival, drawing the fascination of the young children who resided within Blackthorn City or other close towns, such as Mahogany. They were constantly running around, laughing and screaming with joy as they saw new Pokémon around every turn.

_And to think the main events haven't even happened yet,_ Cinder said, her eyes wide with the sights and sounds that enveloped her. No matter how many times she went to the Dragon Festival, she was always amazed by the event. It seemed to have some sort of magic quality to it, enchanting her. She barely even noticed where she was going as she wandered off, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells all around her.

"Hey, look at that thing," Blayze exclaimed, running over to a vender's stall and gazing at a small figure of a Kingdra that was swimming by itself in a tiny bowl of water. Soon, the crowd had swallowed him up; he too lost in the magic of the event.

Unconsciously, Cinder's feet led her to where the main events of the Dragon Festival took place; the area outside of the Blackthorn City Gym.

The Gym itself was a large, almost mansion-like building. It was mainly a pure white color, with no signs of dirt or discoloration on the walls, only to have a splash of color added to it thanks to its red shingled roof. The front had a pair of blue, sliding glass doors, with two tall decorative marble pillars forming an imposing backdrop on each side. Four more pillars were attached to the front of the gym on each side of the door, making ten pillars in total. Above the doors was a pair of windows, mainly rectangular in shape except for the top, which had a semicircle added to enhance their appearance. Finally, a good deal above those near the top of the building was another window, this one circular with a series of black lines that swirled and intersected with each other in a flower pattern. A large black gate surrounded the perimeter of the Gym and its yard and various fountains, blocking it off from unwanted guests. Today, however, the gates were wide open, allowing anyone who wanted to freely enter and leave the area.

There was also a large stage that had been set up to the left of the gym, and was filled with twelve chairs, six on each side of a large, wooden podium. This is where various prominent members of the Dragon Temple would sit and talk about the different legends of the Dragon-type, show off some of the Dragon Temple's treasures, or just announce various things.

"Well, well, who do we have here?" a voice said in front of Cinder, causing her to rip her gaze away from her majestic surroundings.

"Clair!" Cinder shouted with joy as she recognized the blue haired Dragon trainer in front of her. She immediately bounded forward and trapped the Blackthorn City Gym Leader in a hug, which Clair quickly returned.

"Ah, it's been a while my little pupil," Clair said, releasing Cinder from her hug and stepping back, looking the Fire-type trainer up and down. "I heard what happened to Typhlosion at the Kanto League. How's he doing?"

Being reminded of Typhlosion was the last thing Cinder had wanted on this night, and the thought of her best friend lying all alone up in her room sent a wave of guilt, worry, and sadness through her body.

"He's fine…" she managed to mumble, hiding her eyes from Clair. Clair stared at the red-haired girl in front of her, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"That doesn't sound very convincing to me. Did something happen that I'm not aware of?"

"It's just that…I had a battle with Cole the other day…and I ended up using Typhlosion against his Charizard. Things went horribly wrong for us…and Typhlosion…he…he got hurt." Cinder managed to stammer out, trying with all her might not to lose it in front of the woman who had taught her all about Dragon-types right before she had gone on her journey.

"Is he going to be alright?" Clair asked.

"I think so…at least, that's what the doctor said…" Cinder mumbled, wiping her eyes.

"Well then, I wouldn't worry too much about him. After all, Typhlosion's a fighter. He'll pull through in the end, just wait and see. Now then, let's get your mind off of unpleasant things. How's that Bagon I gave you all those years ago doing?"

"He's doing great," Cinder said as she managed to smile a little in an attempt to forget about Typhlosion. Taking out one of the Poké Balls from the bracelet she was wearing, which she had swapped all of her Pokémon onto from her belt, she enlarged the red-and-white sphere, releasing her Bagon in a flash of white light.

"Bagon!" the tiny dragon cried happily as he jumped up and down.

"He certainly looks strong," Clair said, petting Bagon's large, steel-hard head. Bagon smiled happily at the attention he was receiving, waving his stubby arms in the air. "And his head is hard too. I would definitely hate to be on the receiving end of one of his headbutts."

Cinder smiled slightly, pleased with Clair's praise of her Pokémon. "Yeah, he certainly has come a long way since you gave him to me five years ago. I remember when he wouldn't even listen to me when I first met him."

Clair nodded, her attention mainly focused on Bagon, who was smiling at the Gym Leader. "You have another Dragon-type on your team, right?" Clair asked, scratching Bagon's back and head.

Cinder nodded, unclipping another red-and-white sphere from her wrist. Pressing the center white button, she enlarged the Poké Ball, tossing it towards the ground. It split open, releasing Gabite in a flash of white light. He growled slightly, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he took a battle stance.

"Geeze, would you relax Gabite?" Cinder said, smiling at the Cave Pokémon's reaction. "Don't worry; we're not battling or anything. I just brought you out to meet my old teacher, Clair." Cinder motioned with her hand at the blue-haired Gym Leader, who gazed at Gabite critically. Gabite returned her gaze, crossing his arms and curling his upper lip back to reveal a row of razor-sharp teeth. The two remained like that for a while, just staring at each other, not doing anything. Bagon looked between the two staring combatants, looking worried, while Cinder bit her bottom lip, concern in her eyes.

Then, after what seemed like a few years, Clair smiled, the corners of her mouth pulling up, and laughed. Gabite exhaled, and grinned at the Gym Leader, keeping his arms crossed. Both Cinder and Bagon allowed themselves to breathe a small sigh of relief that nothing bad had happened. Gabite sometimes had a hard time restraining himself from battling a tough opponent.

"Well Cinder, it seems you've got yourself quite a fighter with this one," Clair said, looking over Gabite. "Although he needs to learn to lighten up a bit, don't you think?"

Cinder laughed as she scratched the back of one of Gabite's engine-like attachments to his head, which caused him to smile slightly. "Yeah, but at least he's not as bad as Monferno and Combusken."

"Are those two still at each other's necks?" Clair asked, still looking at Gabite while absentmindedly scratching Bagon's head again.

"Yeah. Combusken got really jealous the other day because I was using Monferno to fight Cole. Monferno ended up losing, but I know that the results would have been the same if I had sent Combusken in."

"You shouldn't doubt your Pokémon's abilities," Clair said sternly, looking over at Cinder. "If you put them down like that, then they won't be able to battle at their full potential because of the doubt you put on them. Who knows what could have happened if you had used Combusken? All I know is that you shouldn't say those kinds of things. Believe in your Pokémon, and they might just do what you might think is impossible."

"Unless, of course, it really is impossible," Cinder mumbled, causing Clair to sigh.

"Something troubling you Cinder?" Clair stared at Cinder, causing the younger girl to squirm under her gaze.

"It's just that…I haven't had much luck when it comes to my career as a trainer. I've spent hundreds of hours training my Pokémon, strengthening our bonds, working out strategies, and across four different countries, and for what? An eighth place finish as my best that I can achieve because something always happens. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame Typhlosion at all, it's just that every time I come so close to winning, something always happens to make me lose."

"That's the whole point of being a trainer though. You must learn from your mistakes, your bad luck, and your losses in order to be able to become strong. Have patients Cinder. I'm sure that your time will come soon. Now come on, cheer up. Tonight is supposed to be a night of celebration. So come on, I only have a half an hour before I have to be back here for the special ceremony."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Cinder, Clair, Bagon, and Gabite were relaxing under a shady tree, staring at the swarming crowd around the various venders and watching a parade rumbling down one of the main streets of Blackthron, heading towards the Gym. There seemed to be all sorts of different kinds of people at the festival. Cinder could see two people who were wearing large cowboy hats, a girl with a dark hood covering her face, a slightly chubby guy with sunglasses and a blue shirt with what appeared to be flowers printed on it, and even a group of darker skinned individuals who seemed to be speaking in some foreign language. The four of them had spent their time wandering randomly throughout the festival, watching various trainer's battle, fending off venders who wouldn't except no as an answer, and fighting their way through the crowd.

Clair sighed, smiling. "It's nice to relax every once in a while, don't you think?"

Cinder nodded, staring at a large paper Gyarados in the parade, which people were standing under and moving in such a way that it looked almost as if the blue dragon was swimming or flying through the air.

"Hey," Cinder said suddenly, looking around. "Where's your cousin? I thought that he was going to be at the festival this year, but I haven't seen him anywhere."

Clair frowned, looking up at the sky. "I've been wondering the same thing myself. You see, there was a little…incident last night, and Lance had to leave Blackthorn City for a little bit. I expected him to be back by now though, so I'm wondering what happened to him."

"Why did he have to leave?" Cinder asked, staring at Clair.

"Can't really tell you that," Clair replied. "Even though I trust you Cinder, it wouldn't be good to spread the news of why he left to random people. I'm not saying you would gossip, but you never know who might be listening in on your conversation. Even now I may be saying too much to you."

Cinder frowned, but didn't press the matter further. Instead, she stood up and stretched, Gabite and Bagon copying her. "Anyway," she said after a minute, noticing the parade had almost passed where they had been sitting, "shouldn't we be heading back towards the Gym? I mean, you have that ceremony thing to go to, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Clair said, turning her attention away from the sky, her eyes twinkling mischievously for a second. "Come on Cinder; let's get down to the ceremony. I think you'll be presently surprised at what I have planned."

* * *

Aerodactyl was panting heavily by the time the dark clad man reached his destination: a brightly lit city which stood out like a beacon in the inky darkness of the night. And at this site, the man smiled, silently reaching down to his belt to make sure that the item he had stolen was still firmly attached, just like he had been doing every five minutes since he had left the Dragon's Den. After all, he had broken into one of, if not the most famous temple for Dragon-type Pokémon in the entire world, fought off the Champion of the Johto League, and flown hundreds of miles in one day in order to ensure that he completed his job, and he was not about to let a single loose string stop him now from delivering his prize to his Boss.

Circling three times high overhead, Aerodactyl silently landed on the roof of one of the skyscraper's in the city, and promptly collapsed from exhaustion. The dark haired man quickly jumped off of his mount, walking over to pet his Pokémon's long snout.

"Excellent flying there today Aerodactyl," the man whispered, retrieving the Fossil Pokémon's Poké Ball from his belt. Aerodactyl grunted in response, panting heavily as he was recalled into his red-and-white home via a beam of red light. Replacing the ball back on his belt, the dark haired boy quietly unclipped two other Poké Balls from his belt, smiling to himself all the while.

"Murkrow, Sneasel, would you please deal with our guest?" With a flick of his wrist, the thief tossed the two Poké Balls, releasing his two Dark-type Pokémon in a flash of blinding white light in the semi-darkness of the rooftop. In a second, Sneasel had leapt behind a nearby air-conditioning unit, crying out his name as he began to fight some unseen foe. Murkrow followed close behind, her eyes glowing a mysterious shade of purple as she blasted the unseen visitor out from behind his hiding place with just the force of his mind. Sneasel pounced on the boy a second later, pinning him to the ground.

Seeing his Pokémon pull off a flawless detainment, the thief allowed himself a small smile as he crossed the short distance between the two humans. Seeing her job done, Murkrow quietly landed on her master's shoulder, glaring at the boy they had just detained.

"Well now, what is a boy like yourself doing up here on the roof of a skyscraper?" the thief asked, staring down calmly at his captive. The boy didn't respond; instead, he simply glared at the dark-haired man, his light blue eyes glinting in the lights from below. It was at this point that the thief chose to look over the boy, trying to determine more about him. He was dressed in a similar way to himself, as in all black clothing, but he was lacking a black cloak like the one around the thief. He did, however, seem to have a jacket, which helped to protect him from the cold wind at the top of the skyscraper.

"Not talking, eh?" the thief grunted, motioning with his head for Sneasel to drag him to his feet. Sneasel was all too happy to oblige as he pulled the boy back by his brown hair in order to lift him up, bringing a cry of pain from the captive. Sneasel smiled, pulling harder until the boy was kneeling on his knees, his hands frozen behind his back thanks to a Psychic attack from Murkrow.

Seeing his Pokémon was unable to lift the boy any higher, the thief quietly reached down and grabbed the boy by his jacket, nodding to Sneasel. Sneasel grunted, but jumped back from the brown haired boy, allowing his trainer to lift the boy from the ground and set him back on his feet.

"Now then, I think you had better come with me," the thief said, smiling slightly. "After all, we can't have you out here freezing on the roof, now can we?"

The boy chose to spit at the thief, hitting his shoe with a wad of saliva. The black haired man narrowed his eyes, glaring at the insolent boy. However, he simple snapped his fingers, and calmly took a step back.

The brown haired boy stared at the thief for all of three seconds, wondering what he was up to. Then, Sneasel jumped forward yelling savagely, and promptly slammed his right fist into the boy's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to double over. Sneasel then slashed at the boy's face, raking his two claws on his left hand across his soft flesh.

The boy screamed in pain, and most likely would have fallen over if it were not for Murkrow keeping him upright with his mental powers. After a few minutes of panting, the boy straightened up, glaring at the thief. Two gashes ran across his face; one from the top of his right check, over his nose, and ending at the bottom of his left check and the other less than an inch below and parallel to the first one. The lower gash even managed to nick the top left of his upper lip. Both of the cuts were expelling blood, sending tiny rivers of crimson running down his face. Luckily for the boy though, both Sneasel's claws had barely scratched the surface of his face, and as a result the cuts were a lot less damaging than they could have been.

"Now march," the black haired man said pleasently, nodding his head towards a dark structure that vaguely resembled a small shed that was on top of the skyscraper. This shed, however, was actually the entrance to a stairwell the thief was all too familiar with. At first, the boy resisted, but after a few more fresh scratches from Sneasel on his wrists, he finally began shuffling forward. Sneasel followed close behind him, with the dark haired man bringing up the rear, his arms folded behind him with Murkrow resting on his shoulders.

* * *

Jessica Stevens yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. She was pulling a late night shift in order to finish all of the paperwork that was due in the morning, but unfortunately, her body kept on demanding that she get some rest. She had been going at the forms for about four hours nonstop by now, and she was both mentally and physically exhausted.

Still, there wasn't much she could do about the deadline. With a sigh, she pushed her glasses up from the bridge of her nose, pushed back the sleeves of her white jacket, and attacked the documents with a vengeance.

All in all, it was a pretty normal night for the junior secretary.

So one of the last things she was expecting at ten at night was for a bloody boy to be tossed unceremoniously into her office and land at the foot of her desk, groaning. Needless to say, she immediately jumped up, one hand going into the pocket of her white jacket and grasping one of her Poké Balls. She silently started backing into the corner of her office, staring at her now open, and seemingly empty, doorway.

"Relax," a voice said behind her. She immediately spun around and jumped back, bringing her arm up to release her Pokémon in order to defend herself. When she saw who it was, however, she sighed in a mixture of relief and anger, placing her Poké Ball back into her pocket.

"I thought I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that Damon!" she snapped, before turning around and sighing. The thief smiled, stepping out of the corner of the room he had been leaning against, Murkrow still on his shoulder. Meanwhile, Sneasel stepped out from the hallway, snickering quietly.

"Ah, come on. It was just a joke," the dark haired man said, smiling. "Besides, you have to learn to be able to detect the presence of others. I mean, if I had been someone trying to kill you, you'd be dead by now. And I can tell you for a fact that they wouldn't have told you they were there by throwing a boy at you."

Jessica glared at him for a few more seconds, before sighing again. "Who is that boy anyway?" she asked, motioning with her hand at the brown haired boy who was currently bleeding on the tan carpet of her office in an attempt to shift the topic.

"No idea," Damon replied, looking down at the boy, who Sneasel was currently nudging with his foot. "Sneasel, stop that, would ya?"

"Well, that brings up a lot more questions," Jessica grumbled, crossing her arms. "The most obvious being: what the heck is he doing here?"

"I'd like to know that myself. I found him sneaking around on the roof. Either he's a very, very lost kid, or he was planning on trying to sneak into the building or something. Either way, he's a horrible person to send on a stealth mission. I could even hear him shuffling around with Aerodactyl practically crash-landing on the roof."

"I guess you had better bring him down to the questioning room," Jessica sighed. "It's things like this that makes you wonder just what we've gotten ourselves into, you know?"

"Yeah…" Damon replied, his voice trailing off as he stared absentmindedly at the wall. Jessica smiled sadly at him, before walking over and grabbing his right hand with her left. Their fingers intertwined with each other's, and after a few seconds, the dark haired man looked sadly down at her.

"Hey, cheer up. Soon we'll be finished with this operation, and we'll be home free. You'll see," the blond girl said, squeezing his hand slightly.

"I sure hope you're right," the dark haired boy mumbled sadly. "But there's a lot that still needs to happen. Both of us could easily die by the time all this is over."

"Don't say those kinds of things," she mumbled, staring directly into Damon's eyes. He returned her gaze, and the two of them stood there, hand in hand, just gazing at each other. A few minutes passed, although it felt more like an eternity to Jessica, before Damon finally released his hold on her hand and looked away, breaking the trance. Jessica sighed.

"Sneasel, would you be so kind as to get that boy out of here? He's bleeding all over the carpet," the thief grunted to his Pokémon. Sneasel nodded in response, and hooked his left claw under the back of the brown haired boy's shirt. He then began to drag the boy out of the room, leaving a faint trail of red streaks, no doubt from where Sneasel had decided to make him walk a bit faster with a few slashes to his wrists, as he did so. "Murkrow, keep an eye on those two, would you? We can't have Sneasel injuring that boy any more than we have to."

"Krow," she replied, spreading her wings. With a few flaps, she was off, flying out of the office and closely following her partner.

"So," Jessica began as she sat back down in her high-backed, black rotating chair. She folded her hands in front of her on her mahogany desk and fixed her gaze on Damon before continuing. "How did the mission go?"

The thief stiffened slightly, biting the bottom right corner of his lower lip before replying, "There were a few…difficulties that I encountered."

Jessica raised a single eyebrow, but didn't say anything, choosing to let Damon continue with his story.

"I managed to retrieve the target just fine, but then some unforeseeable obstacles got in my way…namely the Champion of the Johto Region."

Jessica's eyes widened with shock, before her features assumed a slightly quizzical look, her head tilted to one side slightly as she waited for him to continue.

"Lance trailed me for a good ten hours before I finally was able to perform a successful sneak attack, using three of my Pokémon to take out one of his. And even then I wasn't able to make his Dragonite faint. I was, however, able to freeze its wings, and the two of them plummeted into the forest. That was the last that I saw of them."

"So you're telling me that you were able to escape the clutches of a Champion, and may have even killed him?" Jessica said, trying to hide her shock and anger from her voice. She wasn't very successful.

"No, I'm almost sure I didn't kill him," Damon replied, wincing. "The trees would have broken his fall, and I can assure you that his Dragonite would have done everything in his power to save his trainer, even if it met the death of him. Besides, the last thing we need is the media to look into the murder of a famous figure, and possibly uncover information about us."

"Still, I can't believe you managed to fend off Lance of all people," Jessica mumbled, closing her eyes and leaning back in her chair. After a few minutes, she leaned forward, and looked at Damon again. "So, what happened to the Dragon Fang?"

"Its right here," the thief replied, grabbing the pouch from his belt. He carefully set it down onto Jessica's desk and untied it, letting the fabric uncurl itself. The black cloth shifted, and revealed a dirty, old claw.

"Excellent!" Jessica exclaimed happily as she gazed at the claw for a few seconds before covering it back up with the cloth. "I'll go give this to the Boss straight away. He'll be pleased with your work."

"I would certainly hope so," the dark haired man replied. "I almost re-killed my Aerodactyl by pushing him so hard. He's going to need a few days to recover after today."

"I'll be sure to tell him that," Jessica said, standing up and winking at him. "In the meantime, you should bring that brown haired boy down to the questioning room and take your Pokémon to the healing center. And don't forget to go and get some sleep! You look absolutely exhausted."

Damon chuckled wearily, and began to turn to leave. However, Jessica held up her pointer finger, insinuating that their meeting was not yet concluded.

"Is there something else?" the man asked.

"Just one thing," Jessica said as she walked up to him and softly kissed him. Damon returned her kiss, wrapping both of his arms around her as he did so. After a few seconds, Jessica broke away and laughed, softly pushing on his chest with both of her hands. "Now go and get some sleep you big lug."

The dark haired man smiled, before turning and leaving Jessica alone once again in her office.

* * *

Cinder yawned slightly as one of the elders droned on and on, the microphone in front of him on the podium amplifying is hoarse and gravelly voice. However, it did nothing to help clarify his monotone speech, which ran together to make an incomprehensible speech.

It was always a gamble attending the annual reciting of the history of the Dragon Clan. Sometimes, like this year, they would have one of the elder members talk on and on about their history, and half of the time one wouldn't be able to recognize a single word that they said. Other times they would have an apprentice at the Gym or one of the newer members recount the history. That was slightly better, but sometimes the younger speakers would get so nervous they would start rambling on and on, until they and everyone else were completely lost.

But occasionally, if they were lucky, the Dragon Clan would hire a professional speaker. Cinder could still vividly remember the speaker they had in the celebration six years ago, where not only had he captured the audience's attention with his powerful and magical voice, but he also had a few of his Pokémon help to give a visual representation by using various attacks to create moving pictures of dragons, ancient Dragon Tamers, the creation of the Dragon Clan's temple, and whatever else he needed. At the end, the audience had gone absolutely wild, cheering for the amazing speaker. No one had been able to top him since.

Cinder yawned again, covering her mouth his her hand. Blinking sleepily, her mind began to drift as she began to think of other things. She began to wonder how Typhlosion was doing, which inadvertently lead her to thinking about her battle with Cole. From there, she began to remember various defeats she had been handed throughout her journey as a trainer, including battles against various league trainers, some of her old rivals, and even Gym Leaders, most notably her losses against Blaine, Juan, and even Clair.

In fact, Clair was still to this day the only Gym Leader that she had challenged to a battle at one point or another for a badge, but had never been able to win against. She had challenged her former teacher to four different battles, and lost each one by a great margin. Finally, she had decided to give up and challenge another Gym in Johto, a Grass-type Gym that was to the north of Azalea Town and on the edge of the northeastern part of Ilex Forrest. She promptly thrashed the Gym Leader, winning her final badge needed for the Johto League.

Thinking of Clair indirectly lead Cinder to ponder what she had last said to her. Clair had said she had a "surprise" waiting for Cinder, which could either be a good thing, or something very, very bad.

Finally, after going on for about twenty more minutes then he needed to, the elder smiled and stepped down from the podium. The crowd gave a half-hearted applause, mostly because they were relieved that the speech was finally done. The elderly man then shuffled to his seat, sitting down to rest his weary legs. A younger man from the Dragon's Den then stepped up to the podium, and began to speak to the assembled crowd.

"At this time, everyone here is invited into the Gym to witness the annual Battle of the Dragons, and then to our closing segment of fireworks."

With that, the man stepped back down, and the crowd began to slowly move to the large mansion that served as Clair's Gym, murmuring quietly to themselves. Every year two Dragon-type trainers, usually from the Dragon Clan, would help to end the Dragon Festival by having a two-on-two battle with each other. It was mainly just to show off their skills as a Dragon-type trainer, as the winner didn't really receive anything special, but it was still considered an honor to be selected as one of the battlers.

Slowly but surely the crowd made their way to the Gym's battlefield. Thankfully, the battlefield that had been built for the Battle of the Dragons had been built to accommodate a large crowd such as the one that it currently found itself facing, and was built with plenty of seating arrangements on the bleachers that went along the two long sides of the rectangular room. Cinder found herself sitting near the middle rows of bleachers, to the far left side of the battlefield.

The battlefield was slightly different from the normal battlefield of the Blackthorn City Gym. Instead of a rectangular pool of water surrounded on all sides by large strips of land, this battlefield had five, smaller pools. One was in the middle of the field, while two more were positioned on each side of the battlefield near the corners. The rest of the battlefield was that of a normal, brown, standard battlefield that the Pokémon League was known for.

Ten minutes or so passed as the last few stragglers made their way to their seats before the referee stepped up to the referee platform.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the annual Battle of the Dragons! I'll be your referee for this evening, Mark Gladstone. Now then, please give a warm welcome to our two battlers this year; Clair Aberle and Lance Barton from our very own Blackthorn City!"

The audience immediately erupted into applause and talk, chatting over each other about this year's two contestants. Indeed, it wasn't often that one would be able to see a powerful Gym Leader such as Clair go up against a Champion like Lance. And the fact that they were cousins only added to the excitement of the upcoming battle.

The roar of the crowd got even louder when Clair walked onto the battlefield. She waved cheerfully at the crowd, before walking over to the referee and whispering something in his ear. Mark seemed a bit confused as to what Clair had said, and whispered something back to her. Soon, the rumble of the crowd died down as people struggled to hear what the two of them were discussing. The conversation lasted for over a minute, the crowd holding its breath as it waited to discover what the two people were talking about.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mark said, speaking into his microphone once again. "It seems as if one of the competitors, Lance, is unable to participate in this battle due to official reasons."

The crowd instantly erupted in a flurry of questions, conversations, and even booing. Mark held up his hand and shouted for the crowd to be quiet in an attempt to restore order. Finally, after about a minute, the roar died down, and Mark began to speak again.

"Seeing as how her cousin was unable to make it, Clair has kindly arranged for a backup opponent to face her in his place."

With this, a few quiet whispers went through the crowd as people quietly chattered amongst themselves as to who they thought the identity of the backup opponent would be.

Mark waited for the crowd to quiet down again, before continuing. "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Clair's opponent for this year's Battle of the Dragons, Cinder Flair!"

* * *

**Yep, I think that's a pretty good place to stop. So, looks like Cinder's going to facing Clair in the Battle of the Dragons. Who saw that coming? Probably a lot of you, but still…**

**And so it looks like Damon managed to escape from Lance, and made his way to wherever it is he was going. That's probably not a good thing, especially for Lance, seeing as how he's now stuck in a forest somewhere, possibly dead.**

**Then there's the mystery of the brown-haired boy. Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure what came over me when I started writing his part. And for a while I really didn't know what I was going to do with him. But luckily, after thinking about it for a while, an idea popped into my head, and I decided to kill two birds with one stone and have him become an OC I was planning on introducing later in the story. So yeah, be on the lookout for him in some later chapters.**

**Plus, we get another new character added to our story. And I can assure you guys that this will not be the last time we hear of Jessica Stevens.**

**Oh yeah, I'd also like to thank Rocky373, Cerulean City, Aron, and TimeBender for helping me to think of Lance and Clair's surnames. You guys rock.**

**Anyway, that's about it. Don't forget to review, tell me what you liked, what I can improve on, blah blah blah… But seriously, tell me if I did an okay job with the Jessica and Damon scene. That was my first real attempt at writing a romance-like scene, so I would greatly appreciate some constructive criticism.**


	5. Showdown of the Dragons

**Chapter 4: Showdown of the Dragons**

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Clair's opponent for this year's Battle of the Dragons, Cinder Flair!" Mark Gladstone shouted into his microphone. A murmur of confusion went through the crowd, almost everyone wondering who this Cinder Flair person was. A few people even booed, not satisfied by replacing a famous and powerful trainer with someone they had never even heard of.

Cinder, meanwhile, stared down at the battlefield in shock, her mind barely able to process what the referee had just announced. She hardly even registered Clair walk up into the stands and pull her to her feet. The two of them then walked down to the battlefield together, Cinder walking mechanically. It almost felt like a dream.

Half of the audience clapped politely for Cinder, while a few of the more critical members burst into laughter and started making bets with each other.

"W-wh-what?" Cinder finally stammered, staring at Clair with wide-eyes.

"Oh, snap out of it, would you?" Clair said, slapping Cinder on the back. Cinder stumbled forward, barely able to regain her balance and prevent herself from falling flat on her face. However, the blow did manage to snap her out of her trance, and she whirled around to face Clair.

"What the heck are you thinking?" Cinder whispered to Clair over the noise of the crowd. "You're going to completely crush me!"

Clair shrugged. "I figured you could use a bit of a confidence boost. Plus, I needed a person to battle, and you and I haven't faced off against each other in years. I want to see how you've improved."

"You could have just asked me to a battle you know," Cinder hissed. "There's no need to back me into a corner where I can't refuse your challenge."

"Yeah, you say that now. But who knows, with the losing streak you're currently having, you might have refused on the grounds that you thought that you still couldn't beat me, even though it's been over four years since we last battled! You've grown a lot stronger in that time Cinder. Now it's time to see how you've grown!"

"Is there a problem here ladies?" Mark asked, walking up to the two battlers, looking a bit concerned. "We need to get the battle started as soon as possible. We're already way behind schedule."

"Fine," Cinder growled, and marched off defiantly to the left side of the field.

"Don't forget to calm down!" Clair called after her. "You're not going to be in any condition to battle if you let your anger get the best of you."

"Um, is there something going on?" Mark asked again, confused by Cinder's reaction. Most people would have been overjoyed at the thought of being able to battle at the Dragon's Festival, yet she had seemed reluctant, even angry about having to do it.

Clair waved her hand dismissively. "She's alright, just nervous. Now, why don't you go read the rules and all that fun stuff?"

"Uh, right," Mark mumbled, unconvinced as he walked back to the referee's stand. Clearing his throat, he began speaking, his voice amplified by his microphone so everyone in the audience could hear him. "Sorry about the delay ladies and gentlemen, but now it's finally time to get this year's Battle of the Dragons underway! The rules are simple. Each trainer will use two Dragon-type Pokémon each, and whoever knocks both of their opponent's Pokémon out first wins! Also, substitutions will not be allowed in this battle, so that means our trainer's Pokémon will have to duke it out all the way to the end. Now then, would each trainer please release their first Pokémon?"

"Gladly," Clair said, smiling. She threw her Poké Ball with a flourish, releasing a long, serpentine Pokémon. Her body was covered in scales which were mostly blue in color, except for her underside. Those scales were a pearly white. Two sapphire orbs were impaled by the tip of her tail, attached almost in a kabob style to the Dragon-type. A third sapphire orb was fastened to the base of her throat at the end of the white coloring of her underbelly. Her dark red eyes stared at Cinder without blinking; her feathery, wing-like ears twitching slightly in her anticipation of the battle. Finally, an ivory colored horn poked out of her forehead, rounding out her somewhat bizarre appearance.

_Crap, she's using Dragonair?_ Cinder thought as she tried to pick the best Pokémon to use against the serpent. After a few seconds of consideration, she grabbed one of the Poké Balls from her bracelet, pressing the center white button to enlarge it.

"Alright, let's do our best Gabite!" Cinder shouted as she tossed her red and white sphere. Gabite was released in a flash of white light, and immediately assumed a battle position by crouching down onto his haunches. Eyeing his opponent carefully, he growled at Dragonair, his lips pulling back to reveal his sharp teeth.

"Dragonair verses Gabite. Let the battle begin!" Mark shouted, waving his flags as the crowd cheered.

"Alright Gabite, let's start out strong! Use Flamethrower to burn that Dragonair to a crisp!" Cinder ordered, eyeing Clair wearily. She wasn't about to fall prey to any of the Gym Leader's tricks by rushing in blindly.

Gabite growled, showing off his sharp, gleaming teeth to his opponent. He only did this for a few seconds tough, before leaping into action. Taking a deep breath, he bent backwards, arching his back just like a snake would before it struck. And indeed, about a second later, he did strike. But instead of snapping forward and clamping his jaws down on the target like a snake would, he simply leaned forward, and exhaled a stream of white-hot flames.

"Block with Thunder Wave, Dragonair," Clair replied, crossing her arms and smiling.

Dragonair turned her head to the sky and howled, her high-pitched voice reverberating through the room. Locking her eyes on Gabite's attack, her body snapped forward in an almost ironically, yet obviously natural, serpentine way. At once multiple streams of electricity erupted from the horn on her forehead, zigzagging through the air towards Gabite.

It didn't make it very far though, before it collided with Gabite's Flamethrower, and simply sliced through it. The weakened remains of the Flamethrower limply sizzled out in the air, leaving behind a few harmless embers as the only evidence that it had ever existed.

"Now fire a Dragon Pulse," Clair said.

"Dodge it with Dig!" Cinder shouted.

Dragonair opened her mouth again, a light green orb of pure energy materializing flickering into existence in her maw. With a cry, she launched her attack, the orb spiraling through the air on a collision course with Gabite.

Gabite, however, merely smirked at the oncoming attack. Leaping forward like a diver, he hit the ground…and literally dove into it, digging with an unbelievable speed using his two clawed arms. The Dragon Pulse sailed harmlessly over the hole, crash-landing into the earth a little ways away.

"Now hit her with that Dig!" Cinder cried, pointing at Dragonair.

"Come on Cinder! Give us a challenge," Clair called to her former student, rolling her eyes. "Dragonair, leap into the center pool."

It was Dragonair's turn to smirk as she uncoiled her body and leapt with surprising grace into the center pool, splashing a bit of water onto the field. She was just in time too, as about a second later Gabite sprang above ground in the exact same space where Draonair had been, his claws whirling. Growling in frustration when his claws only met air, Gabite landed on all fours, his eyes scanning the battlefield for his opponent.

"Gabite, watch out!"

"Too late! Fire your Blizzard now!"

The water in the pool Dragonair had just sought refuge in immediately surged upward as Dragonair shot into the sky, spraying water everywhere. Hearing the disturbance behind him, Gabite turned to face his opponent, but was much too slow to do anything more than that. He hadn't even turned one hundred and eighty degrees before a gale of snow and ice slammed into his body. The sheer force of the attack blew him off of his feet, and he went rolling backwards into the ground face-first.

"Aqua Tail now," Clair said, smirking.

Hovering in the air above the pool, Dragonair appeared to smirk down at her already struggling opponent. She then proceeded to twist her lower body around, swinging her tail around from behind her. As she did so, a vortex of water materialized around the tail, almost seeming to be leaking out of her skin.

"Gabite, block it with Iron Head!" Cinder cried, her mind whirling already as she tried to think of a way to beat Dragonair.

Gabite scrambled to his feet, desperately gathering power for a counter attack. As Dragonair's tail swung around to meet him, Gabite leapt into the air to counter the attack head on, his body being engulfed by a blinding silver aura. The two attacks collided, and somehow Gabite managed to plow through Dragonair's attack, dispersing the miniature vortex of water and pushing Dragonair's tail back.

"Dragon Claw now!" Cinder shouted.

Gabite growled menacingly as both of his ivory claws glowing white. Falling forward in midair, he relentlessly slashed at Dragonair's body, attempting to hit anything he could. He was rewarded with the feel of flesh ripping apart in his claws accompanied by Dragonair's cry of pain.

"Dragonair," Clair said, keeping her calm demeanor even after Gabite's counter strike. "Knock that Gabite away with a Thunder Wave."

Dragonair cried out again as Gabite's claws slashed at her hide again, this time around the midsection of her tail as gravity pulled him closer to earth. Still, she gathered electricity in her horn like her trainer ordered, and quickly fired a blast of yellow lightning at Gabite. The attack didn't hurt Gabite at all, but it did push him back, making the already descending Dragon fall from the sky that much quicker.

"Gabite, Dig when you hit the ground!"

Hearing his orders, Gabite gave out a quiet grunt as he twisted upside down in the air, angling himself so that he was falling head first. Seconds before he landed on his head, both of his claws came forward, letting him simply carve his way into the earth as he landed. Within a few seconds, Gabite was safely hidden underground, a hole being the only clue as to where he had disappeared to.

"Don't let that hole stop you Dragonair," Clair said. "Get in close and shoot a Blizzard into it. Force Gabite out from underground."

"Dra," Dragonair cried, nodding. She quickly flew down towards Gabite's newest hole, landing with a soft thud next to it as she prepared for her attack.

_Just what I was hoping they'd do, _Cinder thought to herself, smirking slightly. "Alright Gabite, Sand Tomb on the double!"

Clair's eyes widened as she heard Cinder's orders. Realizing what was happening, she said, "Dragonair, get out of there now!" Cinder noticed with a hint of satisfaction that a slight tremor had worked its way into her voice; a fracture in her normally calm demeanor.

Hearing the orders, Dragonair tried to turn and fly back to the safety of the sky, but she had gotten much too close to the hole. With a slightly muffled roar, a whirlwind of sand erupted from the hole Gabite had dug, trapping Dragonair's midsection and part of her tail in the spiral. It quickly solidified into a tower of sand, trapping the parts of Dragonair's body that had been hit by the particles.

"Now come out and hit her hard with Dragon Rush!" Cinder cheered, sensing a knockout.

"Blizzard that Gabite when he comes out of the ground," Clair said, staring intensely at the battlefield.

A few seconds passed after the trainers called their orders, a hush falling over the crowd as they waited for the next attack. They didn't have to wait very long, however, as Gabite burst out of the ground about a second later, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris as he flew into the air. Still, even with the obscuring cloud, one could easily tell that he was enveloped entirely within a blue aura. Not about to give up, Dragonair twisted her head around unleashed a flurry of wind and snow from her mouth. The Blizzard struck Gabite head on, stopping the Cave Pokémon in his tracks.

"Rip that Blizzard apart with a Dragon Claw Gabite!" Cinder cried.

Gabite struggled against the blast of snow and ice, urgently trying to break through before the power to his Dragon Rush ran out. He vaguely heard his trainer's commands, and his claws started glowing almost by themselves. With an almighty heave, Gabite brought his claws up and slashed through the Blizzard, the force of the attack enough to part the howling winds full of snow and ice around him, with the attack luckily dispersing quickly thereafter.

With a roar, Gabite crashed into Dragonair with his Dragon Rush attack, bringing a cry from both Pokémon; Gabite's one of triumph while Dragonair's of pain. The Dragon Rush was enough to knock Dragonair loose from the Sand Tomb, sending both Dragon-types and the pillar of sand crashing down to the arena below, kicking up a huge cloud of loosened particles.

When the dust cleared, however, Cinder couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise at what she saw. Likewise, many people in the audience began chattering amongst themselves, some of them worried, and a few of them excited.

There, on the battlefield, Gabite was kneeling on in the dirt on Cinder's half of the field, the left side of his face completely frozen. Meanwhile, on Clair's side of the field, a scratched up Dragonair calmly hovered above the field, her saphire eyes gazing at her downed opponent.

"What?" Cinder said, staring at the battlefield in confusion. "I thought for sure that would be enough to knock Dragonair out."

"Obviously, you underestimated how much power my Blizzard had taken out of you Gabite's Dragon Rush," Clair said, running a hand through her hair. She quietly uttered a sigh of relief that her Pokémon was okay, before going into her next move. "Now then Dragonair, how about we finish off that Gabite, shall we? Extremespeed on the double."

"Block it with Dragon Claw," Cinder said, still a bit shocked from the sudden turn of events.

Dragonair cried to the sky, before charging forward, practically disappearing as she raced across the battlefield. Gabite desperately tried to raise his claws to block the attack, but was much to slow as Dragonair plowed into him, the single horn on her head burying itself in Gabite's chest.

Gabite cried out in pain as the momentum from Dragonair shifted to him, sending him flying back into the wall. With a horrible snapping sound, his body collided with a wooden beam, splintering the post in half. Gravity then took control of the situation, and Gabite fell to the ground, landing spread eagle on the battlefield.

"Gabite!" Cinder cried.

"It's over Cinder. Nothing could still be standing after a blow like that," Clair said calmly, smiling slightly at her Dragonair.

"No…" Cinder mumbled, not really believing what she was seeing. She couldn't lose this battle. She couldn't lose to Clair again.

Seeming to share his trainer's sheer determination to win, Gabite weakly struggled to his knees with a grunt, wincing from the pain. The crowd let out a cheer as he stood up, his murderous gaze fixed on Dragonair.

"How is he still standing?" Clair said, her normally calm appearance temporarily shattered as she stared at Gabite, shocked. Dragonair gave a whinny of concern as well, agreeing with the Blackthorn City Gym Leader.

"Gabite…" Cinder mumbled, staring in disbelief at her Pokémon. Gabite glanced at her and snarled, before turning his attention back to Dragonair as he weakly walked back into the arena, the crowd quieting down as they waited for the battle to continue. Cinder nodded at her Pokémon's message, and quickly quickly turned her attention back to the battle, a look of determination on her face. "Right, we're not going to stop until we win! Gabite, fire a Dragon Pulse!"

"Counter with your own Dragon Pulse Dragonair," Clair commanded, eyeing Gabite. _He can't last that much longer. A hit or two more and he'll be down._

At the commands of their trainers, both Dragon-types set out to charging up their attack, two green orbs materializing in their open maws. Two seconds later, they fired their attacks. The two orbs raced across the battlefield and collided head on, exploding upon contact. A cloud of black smoke rolled across the middle of the battlefield, much to the annoyance of a few fans who began to boo when their view was obstructed.

"Finish him with Blizzard!" Clair said quietly, taking advantage of the cover of the smoke and the noise of the crowd to get an attack off without Cinder's knowledge. Nodding that she had heard the attack, Dragonair tilted her head back and released another blast of wind and ice from her jaws as quietly as she could. The Blizzard attack easily cut through the smoke, spreading out as it crossed the field.

"And that," Clair mumbled, smiling as she waited for the smoke to clear, "just might be checkmate."

As soon as she uttered the word though, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that a few members of the crowd seemed to be shouting something at her. Straining her ears, she tried to make out what they were saying, but their shouting was drowned out by a chorus of boos, groans, and even a few cheers from other spectators.

_What are they droning on about now? _she asked herself as the smoke finally cleared. What it revealed though, was something that she hadn't expected.

The other side of the field had a small area near the center that was covered in a thin layer of ice, no doubt from Dragonair's Blizzard attack. And that was it. There was nothing else to be seen, save Cinder, who had a giant grin plastered on her face.

"What?" Clair said loudly, immediately re-scanning the field for any sign of Gabite. Dragonair shared in her trainer's confusion as she twisted and turned, trying to spot her elusive opponent.

"Finish it Gabite," Cinder said quietly.

A roar silenced the chatter of the crowd as Gabite came barreling out of the ground from underneath Dragonair, his body trapped within a blazing blue aura. Not only that, but his claws were a good six inches longer as they shone with a blinding white light through the aura.

With a bloody snarl of triumph and anger, Gabite brought his claws down in an X-shaped slash, scraping against the white scales of Dragonair's underbelly. Before Dragonair could even utter a note of pain, Gabite hit her again as his body's momentum sent him flying into hers, driving them both into the ground.

Gabite was the first to rise from the fall, as he straightened up in the tiny crater he had made from his attack. He quickly waved a claw in Cinder's direction, flashing his teeth in a smirk.

What he wasn't expecting though, was for the serpent below him to begin to stir. As busy as he was enjoying his last blow, he never noticed Dragonair begin to rise until her tail hit the back of his knees. Gabite cried out in surprise as his legs were knocked out from under him, sending him tumbling back into the dirt. Dragonair, meanwhile, simply took off into the air, crying out to her trainer and the crowd, who erupted in a flurry of cheers at her recovery.

"Dragonair!" Clair shouted, allowing a small smile to cross her face as she gazed up at her Pokémon. "Another Blizzard! Take that Gabite out."

"No! Gabite!"

Time seemed to slow down as Dragonair turned her head to the sky once again. And just like all the other times she had used the attack, a whirlwind of ice escaped from her maw, traveling straight for the spot where Gabite was lying.

Seeing the attack coming towards him, Gabite began to do something Cinder had never seen before. His jaws were opened as wide as they could go, and a large, red orb began to peak out from back of his throat. As he angled his open maw towards Dragonair from his horizontal position on the ground, entire body began to glow different hues of yellow and orange. The glowing aura almost seemed to crackle in the air around him.

"Use it now!" Cinder cried, not really caring what it was. If it meant that Gabite would be able to survive the Blizzard, she would settle for just about anything.

With a roar, a huge, red ball of energy erupted from his mouth with the sound of cannon fire. The orb and the Blizzard collided in midair, but it was obvious to everyone in the arena that there was no contest between the two attacks. The orb simply ripped through the Blizzard as if it was tissue paper. No one even had time to think before the orb smashed into into Dragonair, exploding in a flash of white light. It was so bright that everyone was forced to turn their eyes away to avoid being blinded.

Dragonair uttered a cry of pain.

And then there was silence.

Cinder unshielded her eyes tentatively. She blinked a few times to get used to the light, before staring at the battlefield. Gabite was on Clair's side of the field on his knees, one arm propping his body up from the ground. Dragonair, meanwhile, had crash-landed into the nearest pool on Cinder's left, which had sent water flying everywhere.

Mark took a few shaky steps over to where Dragonair lay in the drained and practically destroyed pool, before holding up a flag in Cinder's direction.

"Dragonair is unable to battle," he shouted hoarsely. "Gabite is the winner."

As soon as he was done with his declaration, the crowd went almost completely silent, with a few cheers and stray claps quickly dying out when they realized no one else was joining in. Most of them couldn't believe that Clair had lost her Dragonair in the first round. After all, she was a Gym Leader, while her opponent was just some girl they found off of the street. A last-minute replacement for the Johto Champion. And she had somehow pulled out the first win?

Down on the field, Clair recalled her Dragonair, whispering a few words of thanks to the Dragon Pokémon.

"What was that?" Cinder asked, staring at her Gabite.

"That was an attack called Draco Meteor," Clair said, glancing at the wheezing Gabite, who was slowly making his way back over to Cinder's side of the field. He was dragging his left foot behind him in the ground, apparently unable to move it very well, if at all. "It's considered by many Dragon users to be the ultimate move any Dragon-type Pokémon can learn. In order for a Dragon-type to use it though, they have to have a deep bond with their trainer, and even then it sometimes doesn't even work. Not to mention it's extremely energy draining for the Pokémon firing it."

"Still, that was insanely strong," Cinder said, beaming at her Pokémon. "Good job on learning Draco Meteor Gabite!"

"Bite," Gabite grumbled, keeping his focus on Clair as he swayed weakly back and forth.

"Now then Cinder, are you ready to face my second Pokémon? For I can assure you, he is much stronger than Dragonair was." Clair twirled a Poké ball in her hand for a few seconds, staring at Cinder with a blank look on her face.

"Well, are you going to send him out, or are you going to make us stand here all night?" Cinder asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. She began tapping her foot impatiently as Clair continued to stall. The crowd was also getting a bit restless, with people grumbling and shouting for Clair to hurry up and finish off Cinder.

"Very well," Clair said, seemingly satisfied with something. With a flick of her wrist, Clair sent her Poké ball soaring over to the pool on her right. It opened in midair, releasing its occupant with the usual flash of bright light straight into the water.

Clair's final Pokémon resembled a large seahorse in shape as his head and upper body surfaced above the water of the pool. His body was covered in light blue scales, a lighter scale than Dragonair's, except for his belly, which was covered in a variety of yellow scales. His body ended in a curved tail instead of legs, and a single, large fin grew out of his back in place of arms. His head was a cross between that of an octopus and a horse, with his snout being replaced by a long, tube-like opening which functioned as a mouth for the creature. His cheeks were accented by a wavy piece of extra skin that covered the skin over the cheekbones. Finally, his appearance was rounded out by two dull horns that popped out of the top of his skull, and each had a piece of wavy skin attached to them so they somewhat resembled streamers. Upon his appearance, most of the crowd cheered and whooped, happy with Clair's choice for her last Pokémon.

"Let's show her a real battle, Kingdra!" Clair said, smirking.

"Dra!" Kingdra said, looking over at Gabite with his red eyes. Gabite returned his stare and snarled, showing off his teeth.

"Kingdra verses Gabite!" Mark shouted over the noise of the chattering crowd. "Begin!"

"Kingdra, Ice Beam," Clair said immediately.

"Gabite, dodge it!"

Gabite wearily threw himself to the right just as a beam of bone chilling energy shot out of Kingdra's mouth, missing him by inches. Gabite landed in a heap on the ground while the Ice Beam kept on going and ended up striking the ground behind him, freezing it solid.

"Adjust your aim Kingdra," Clair said, the corner of her mouth twitching into a small smile.

"Ki!" Kingdra replied, instantly shifting his head slightly to the left and down, still spewing out the Ice Beam in the process.

Beginning to panic slightly, Cinder shouted, "Escape under the ground with a Dig Gabite! Quickly!"

Despite his weariness, Gabite attacked the ground with a vengeance, his sharp, ivory claws tearing up the earthen battlefield. Even still, he was barely able to dig deep enough to hide most of his body by the time to readjusted Ice Beam flew at him, missing the top of his head by a few centimeters. The icy energy that radiated off of the beam was enough to start frost forming on the top of his head, causing Gabite to growl. He continued digging, and soon he had disappeared entirely from view.

_It seems we've reached a sort of stalemate,_ Cinder thought as she surveyed the field. _Gabite can't get close to Kingdra to hit him with a physical attack, but at the same time, Kingdra can't hit Gabite while he's hiding underground._

A similar thought process was apparently going through Clair's head, as her brow was furrowed and her piercing blue eyes were staring intently at the field. Cinder allowed herself a small mental pat on the back for giving her old teacher so much trouble. At the same moment, one of Clair's eyebrows suddenly shot up, and idea popping into her head. Slowly the corners of her mouth lifted into a small smile, her eyes glinting mischievously.

"Kingdra," she said softly, smiling sweetly at Cinder, "use a vertical Twister."

"Vertical Twiser?" Cinder asked. She wasn't the only one confused by Clair's order though; the crowd was literally buzzing as people whispered to each other. Meanwhile, Kingdra slowly began his attack.

Tensing his muscles, he slowly began to spin in place, sending small ripples throughout the pool. As he continued to spin, his rotation speed began to increase faster and faster, disrupting the water even more as the liquid slowly began to twist with him.

Then, without warning, the water launched itself into the air, twisting around Kingdra's body. In an instant he was concealed within a gigantic vortex of water, which barely stopped a few feet below the ceiling.

"Now fire!"

Cinder gaped wide-eyed at the Twister as it began to move forward, leaving Kingdra and the now dry pool behind. Her mind raced as she tried to quickly think of a way to stop the aquatic whirlwind heading straight for her badly damaged Pokémon. She knew that if that attack hit, the chances of Gabite surviving it would be close to zero. In the end though, she ended up blurting out the only thing that came to her mind.

"Block it with a Sand Tomb!"

A loud roar answered her call, echoing from the hole in the ground. A second later, a much smaller twister of sand spewed out of Gabite's hole. Compared to Kingdra's attack though, it wasn't very impressive at all. The Sand Tomb wasn't even half as tall as the Twister, and the sand was so thin you could almost see through it.

So it wasn't very surprising that the aquatic Twister wasted no time in destroying it. When the two attacks finally met, the Sand Tomb buckled, barely even able to stay upright from the first blow from Kingdra's attack. And to only make Cinder's problems worse, the water from the Twister attack spread to the sand in Gabite's Sand Tomb, making the particles clump together. Now to heavy to stay aloft, the wet sand collapsed onto the floor below, bringing the rest of the Sand Tomb with it.

Far from being done, the Twister attack continued forward, and in a second passed over Gabite's hole. Reaching down into the earth, the Twister attack managed to ensnare Gabite, dragging him above the surface. He stopped his assent about ten feet off the ground, suspended and swirling in the Twister's depths.

Clair smiled. "Now freeze that Twister with an Ice Beam."

"Draco Meteor!" Cinder shouted, once again blurting out the first thing that popped into her head.

The two Pokémon immediately went into their respective attacks, wasting no time at all. Ironically, they both began to charge up orbs of energy: Kingdra's a pale ice-blue at the end of his snout and Gabite's a bright orange in the base of his throat.

However, there was one key difference between the two attacks. Draco Meteor, being the larger and more powerful of the two, took longer to charge than a simple Ice Beam. As such, Kingdra had a fully charged attack ready to go before Gabite was even halfway done preparing his.

"Fire," Clair said softly.

"Dra!" Kingdra cried in response as he released the pent up energy in his snout. The beam of ice shot out like a bullet, heading directly for the spiraling Twister and Gabite. Unable to do anything else, Gabite was just able to give one final death glare at his opponent before the Ice Beam struck, instantly freezing the Twister into a giant pillar of ice.

"Time to put the final nail in the coffin Kingdra," Clair said. "Use a Dragon Pulse."

"Come on Gabite!" Cinder cried. "Don't give up now! You've got to break free! Fire that Draco Meteor!"

Clair shook her head, giving Cinder an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Cinder, but it's over. There is no possible way that Gabite can possibly…" Clair's voice slowly trailed off as she gazed at the ice pillar, the smile vanishing from her face. In its place, her two eyebrows both shot up as she looked on with a mixture of confusion and awe. Even the crowd seemed to be surprised, as they had stopped their almost constant cheering and just stared at the scene in front of them.

Down on the field, the ice pillar had begun to glow a deep orange color. Inside, the frozen Gabite's body had begun to crackle with an orange aura, which illuminated the entire spire he was currently trapped in. Slowly, the ice around him began to crack loudly as he began to shift and move. After a few seconds of struggling, he finally managed to train his blood red eyes on Kingdra, opening his mouth just wide enough to reveal the large orange orb in the base of his throat.

* * *

**Yeah, I think I'll stop there. It gives me a bit of a cliffhanger at least. Plus, I'm trying to cut down on the size of my chapters, and this one was over 10,000 words before I broke it up, so…yeah, expect quite a bit more battling to go still. But hey, this means I'll be able to update faster, which is hopefully a good thing.**

**I am not, however, going to go back and break up chapters one through three, as there aren't really any good places to stop that are around the middle of the chapters. Plus, I really don't want to be going backwards with this story, so I'll just continue charging onwards for now.**

**Next chapter will have the conclusion of Clair and Cinder's battle, as well as the introduction of another new character. And no, this one won't be an OC.**

**By the way, just as a means of a little shout out, I'd suggest that anyone who likes Pokémon tournament stories to go check out **_**Crown**_** by Rocky373. It's a really well-written story, but the author's considering discontinuing it from a lack of feedback. So it would be really great if you could drop him a review or two. It probably won't change anything, but a story like **_**Crown**_** deserves to at least have some feedback to it.**

**And if you would like, you could also drop me a review while you're at it. I haven't quite gotten the hang of battle scenes yet, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.**


	6. Dragonfire

**Chapter 5: Dragonfire**

* * *

"Fire!" both battlers shouted at once.

Kingdra hastily fired a green orb of energy from the barrel of his mouth, trying to put an end to Gabite before he had a chance to attack. He had waited too long though, and with an ear splitting roar, Gabite unleashed his Draco Meteor. With a noise close to that of breaking glass the ice pillar Gabite was trapped in shattered, kicking up a cloud of ice crystals. A split second later a giant orange orb of energy shot out of the cloud, colliding with the much smaller Dragon Pulse. Needless to say, the smaller orb didn't stand a chance as the Draco Meteor simply ripped right through it, continuing on its merry way to Kingdra without slowing down a second.

At the same moment the Draco Meteor decended onto the ground and enveloped Kingdra, Gabite and the remains of the ice pillar crashed into the battlefield a ways away. A blinding flash of light burst out of the Droco Meteor a second later, followed by an earth-shattering explosion that nearly knocked Cinder and Clair off their feet and sent another of those oh-so-common black clouds of smoke into the air. As a result, nothing could be seen of the battlefield, forcing the members of the audience to hold their breath as they anxiously waited to see the result of the attack.

"Well Cinder," Clair said, coughing slightly, "I must say, I'm impressed. I didn't think Gabite would have been able to escape from our ice Twister, let alone still fire a Draco Meteor."

"Thanks," Cinder said, smiling. "Gabite and I have been training really hard in the past few months, and he's quickly become one of my best battlers."

Clair nodded, even though Cinder couldn't see her through the massive black cloud. "And it shows. Unfortunately, I'm afraid all that training wasn't enough for Gabite to take down both Dragonair and Kingdra, even with his massive amount of determination. Why don't we show them with a Twister?"

At once, another vortex of wind ripped through the stadium, seeming to come from somewhere inside the cloud. The smoke dispersed almost at one, being no match for the Dragon-type attack, allowing for the scene on the battlefield to be revealed. Sitting in a beaten dipression of concrete that had once been a pool was Kingdra, who was staring lazily over at Cinder's side of the field, appearing to be virtually unharmed. Meanwhile, Gabite was lying in a pile of ice shards near Cinder, completely drained of energy.

Mark stared at the fallen Gabite for a few seconds before remembering his referee duties, and he quickly raised a flag in Clair's direction shouting, "Gabite is unable to battle, Kingdra is the winner!"

Cinder simply gawked at the sight of Gabite, not really believing what she was seeing. "But…how?" she asked quietly.

"You know, you really shouldn't rely so heavily on moves you know nothing about Cinder," Clair said. "You see, Draco Meteor gets weaker with each use of the attack, similar to the Fire-type move Overheat. I'm sure you've heard of that one at least. So by the time it had destroyed our ice Twister and the Dragon Pulse, it barely had any energy left. As for Gabite, I imagine he had put all of his remaining energy into his attack, which, let's be honest, wasn't much. That, combined with the fall, are what probably did him in."

Cinder sighed, he shoulders slumping in defeat as she quietly recalled Gabite back to his Poké Ball. Her previous high from defeating Dragonair was long gone by now, replaced once again by a nervous pit in her stomach. "I'm so sorry Gabite," she whispered. "You were amazing out there. Now take a nice long rest."

Replacing the Poké Ball on her wrist, Cinder absentmindedly grabbed a second sphere while staring at Clair and Kingdra. "Alright, it looks like it's all up to you now. Let's give it our best Bagon." With that, Cinder threw her Poké Ball, releasing Bagon from his confines in midair. The tiny dragon blinked once at being released, his face immediately breaking into a grin as he realized he was up in the air. Letting out a happy cheer, he began flapping his stubby arms as if they were wings. His flight just wasn't meant to be though, as gravity took over and dragged his flailing body to the ground. With a loud thump Bagon landed on the top of his head, only to fall over and come to a rest on his belly.

In the stands, the pseudo-Cinder supporters who had decided to cheer for the underdog groaned and some even hid their faces in shame when they saw her final choice. Clair supporters, meanwhile, were laughing and hollering, clearly happy at the choice. Bagon, thinking they were cheering for him, waved happily at the crowd from his position lying on the floor, which only intensified their laughing.

"Right then," Mark said, holding both of his flags up in the air. Seeing the signal, Bagon pushed himself upwards, shifting into a ready stance. "Kingdra verses Bagon. Begin!"

"Alright Bagon, let's kick things off with a Dragon Dance!"

"Ba," Bagon replied happily as he began to jump around, flailing his arms in the air as a blue aura surrounded him. With each bound, his jump got a bit higher and longer as his muscles began to loosen up.

"Blind him with an Octazooka!" Clair said smiling.

"Octazooka?" Cinder asked, caught off guard. She had never heard of any attack by that name before. "Er, um, Bagon! Just dodge whatever it is that's about to come at you, alright?"

Smirking slightly, Kingdra simply inhaled deeply, his body expanding as he took in more and more air. He held it for a few seconds, taking careful aim at his opponent. In a sudden rush he exhaled, shooting out a stream of black ink from his mouth. Seeing the spray coming, Bagon leaped to the side, letting the ink shoot past him to land in a puddle on the ground where he had just been standing only a few moments ago.

"Again, Kingdra," Clair said, her arms folded across her chest.

"Dodge it with a Dragon Dance," Cinder countered.

Once again, Bagon began to hop and jump around, raising his stats and making himself a hard target for his opponent to properly aim at. With a grunt, Kingdra simply repeated his previous move and spat a second glob of ink at his opponent. And just like before, Bagon jumped away from it, the Octazooka simply splattering against the Gym floor.

"Once more," Clair said impassively, an almost board tone seeping into her voice.

_What is she planning?_ Cinder asked herself as Kingdra began to prepare a third spray of ink. "Dodge it with another Dragon Dance."

As soon as the orders left Cinder's mouth, the crowd began to boo. Both of them just kept repeating the same attacks over and over again, and many of the audience members were growing board at this exchange. Still, that didn't stop Kingdra from spitting out a third glob of goo, or Bagon from jumping away from it, his jumps getting longer with each successive dance step.

"Ready another Octazooka Kingdra," Clair said when she saw the results of her previous attack. The audience groaned in frustration, obviously unhappy about their opinions being ignored.

"We can keep dodging them all day," Cinder said, smiling. "Dance away from it Bagon."

At her order, two members of the crowd stood up to leave, grumbling about the battle and how boring it had suddenly gotten. Indeed, it almost seemed as if all of the energy had been sucked out of the room from the past few exchanges, and the crowd was restless for something exciting to happen.

Back down on the field, Kingdra fired his fourth shot of ink, still trying to hit the elusive Bagon. And just as before, Bagon jumped away smugly, letting the attack sail under him. He had made his mistake though. As he landed back on the field, his foot landed on one of the puddles of goo that had been left behind from a previous Octazooka attack. The slick substance caused the Rock Head Pokémon to lose his balance, sending him sliding down onto the ground. At this, the crowd let out a cheer that something new had happened.

"Ice Beam now!" Clair shouted, seeing her chance.

_Crap! _Cinder thought, absentmindedly biting her lower lip. "Double Team Bagon!"

Flailing around in the inky residue, Bagon's form began to blur slightly as he began to shake, almost as if his entire being had been set on vibrate. The vibrating increased, up until the point where Bagon seemed to split into three forms followed by a second split, leaving behind a row of five identical dragons lying in the Octazooka ink. Caught off guard by the defensive manuver, Kingdra simply chose one of the Bagon in front of him and fired his Ice Beam. The frozen blast of energy ripped through the Bagon in the center, shredding the clone to pieces.

Clair grunted, not at all troubled by Cinder's defense. "Kingdra, why don't you go ahead and use Disable?"

Smirking, Kingdra's eyes began to glow blue as his entire body surrounded itself in a thin blue outline. Across the field, the four remaining Bagon also began to glow with a similar blue outline, until suddenly, three of the Bagon disappeared, leaving the one on the near right completely exposed and extremely surprised.

_Dang it! Now Bagon can't use Double Team for a while, which means it's going to be a lot harder to dodge Clair's attacks…_ Cinder thought, her mind racing.

Clair, meanwhile, wasn't going to let Cinder have any time to recover, and immediately shouted, "Dragon Pulse!"

With surprising speed, a glowing orb of green energy appeared at the end of Kingdra's snout and was released almost immediately, homing in on Bagon's position. Neither Cinder or Bagon had any time to react to the attack, which smashed into the tiny Dragon-type and sent him flying into the air.

"Bagon!" Cinder cried.

"Ice Beam!" Clair shouted, pointing at the soaring Rock Head Pokémon.

With another burst of speed, Kingdra quickly charged up a second attack at the end of his snout, this one a pale blue orb. With a quiet shout of "_Dra!_" he fired the beam of energy. The attack struck Bagon's side as he fell, instantly putting him into a spinning nosedive. With a cry he crashed into the ground, sending up a tiny plume of dust.

"No…" Cinder whispered.

Clair grunted. "That's it? Where's your spirit from before Cinder? You're not even fighting back at this point, and Bagon is getting hammered."

"I know," she mumbled to herself, her eyes hidden in the shadows of her hair as she looked at the ground.

"…So that's it? Are you just going to give up at this point? Is that the kind of Trainer you've become Cinder? When the going gets a little tough, do you just give up and let your Pokémon suffer for your own shortcomings?"

At this point, Cinder was visibly shaking. Both of her fists were clenched tightly to her sides, and she appeared to be struggling to control her emotions.

Clair sighed, shaking her head. "You know, I gave you Bagon all those years ago because I thought that was the best thing for him at the time. Since then, I have never regretted sending him with you. Until now that is. If you can't even bother to help him out when he's in trouble, then you don't deserve to have a Pokémon like him. You don't even deserve to be a Trainer if this is how you act."

"Shut up!" Cinder screeched, her anger, grief, and other emotions finally boiling over. Her body began shaking even more violently than before, and two streams of tears flooded over from her eyes.

"Bagon!" replied a second shout from the deteriorating dust cloud. Looking up in surprise, Cinder stared at her tiny Dragon-type as he slowly stood up. Looking back at his trainer, Bagon gave a small nod towards her, telling her he was ready for another round with his seahorse opponent.

"Bagon…" she whispered, before shaking her head. Looking over at Clair, she gave a small smile, newfound determination suddenly showing in her eyes. "Alright, let's get back into this battle Bagon!"

Clair hid a small smile of her own, turning her attention back to Kingdra. "Why don't you go ahead and fire a horizontal Twister?" she suggested to the Dragon-type. Kingdra grunted in response, and began to inhale deeply.

"Oh no you don't! Bagon, start using a Dragon Dance!"

Nodding, Bagon picked up on his dance where he had left off before he had slipped on the ink, this time being extra careful to avoid the slick, black puddles. Not fazed by the smaller Dragon's bouncing, Kingdra exhaled a swirling vortex of air, this one traveling parallel to the ground right for the area where Bagon was dancing around.

"Now jump!"

Landing from his latest jump, Bagon tensed his muscles and leaped. The added strength from the multiple Dragon Dances he had performed allowed him to rocket higher than anyone was expecting; in fact, he managed to reach a good fifteen feet in the air before reaching the zenith of his ascent.

"What?" Clair said, both her and her Pokémon surprised by the maneuver.

Cinder smirked. "Now shoot a Flamethrower behind you!"

Having reached the apex of his jump, Bagon spun in the air and opened his maw. Instantly, a stream of flames erupted from his jaws, the force of the flames propelling him in the opposite direction through the air as he began to fall.

Recovering from her brief shock from before, Clair smirked at the tactic Cinder was using. While they had managed to dodge their Twister attack, Bagon was almost completely defenseless in the sky. "Why don't we give them another taste of our Ice Beam Kingdra?"

"_Dra_," Kingdra replied as he rapidly began to charge another one of his bone-chilling attacks.

"Now Bagon! Spin and dive into a Dragon Rush!"

Cutting off his Flamethrower, Bagon spun around to face Kingdra again, altering his free-falling body so the top of his head was pointed towards the Dragon Pokémon. As Kingdra fired his attack at Cinder's Pokémon, Bagon's form was enveloped in a blinding blue aura, silhouetting his body inside of it. The two attacks collided, but because of Bagon's boosted stats and extra momentum, he plowed through his opponent's attack, simply splitting the Ice Beam in the middle and letting it flow around him.

Kingdra didn't have long to be surprised, however, as a few seconds later, Bagon plowed into his large head, bringing a cry of pain from the Dragon Pokémon as the aura around Bagon exploded in a cloud of smoke.

"Interesting," Clair said as she waited for the smoke to clear. "You turned your offensive attack into a defensive move. You even used Bagon's most powerful weapon, his head, in helping you to defend."

"Well what were you expecting?" Cinder asked, smiling. "Bagon and I have been training a long time, and we've discovered what works and what doesn't."

"Still, it's not the best defense. You take a lot of damage from charging right in like that," Clair pointed out.

Meanwhile, on the field, the smoke had almost completely cleared, revealing both Pokémon to still be standing, albeit both panting from their efforts. With a nod to Kingdra, Clair said, "Well, it looks like we're ready to continue. Kingdra, let's show them their folly in trying to fight a close combat battle, eh? Vertical Twister on the double!"

_Oh crap,_ Cinder thought, her eyes widening a little as Kingdra began to spin. _If Bagon gets hit by that, we're in trouble._

"Bagon, we can't let them get that attack off. Charge in with a Double-Edge!"

Bagon nodded, backing up from the pool a few steps so he could get some more momentum behind the attack. Tensing his muscles, he sprang at the now spinning Kingdra. Unable to protect himself, Kingdra could only cry out in pain as Bagon's iron-hard head slammed into him with surprising force, his spin faltering for a few seconds.

"Now hit him before he can recover! Unleash your Dragonbreath!" Cinder cried, punching the air in front of her.

Taking advantage of Kingdra's brief lapse in concentration, Bagon flipped backwards in the air, opening his mouth as greenish flames began to build in his maw. With a cry, he unleashed a stream of thick, green fire at his opponent. Once again, Kingdra squealed in pain as the attack hit him, scorching his scales.

Seeing her Pokémon taking a beating, Clair said, "Call off the Twister Kingdra! It's not worth it. Instead, blast that annoying little dragon away with a Hydro Pump!"

Eager to get some payback for the attacks he had just received, Kingdra quickly inhaled as Bagon landed at the edge of the pool. Smirking, he exhaled, releasing a torrent of pressurized water from his muzzle. Bagon didn't have time to dodge the close range attack, and the Hydro Pump crashed into his tiny body, bringing a cry of pain as he was thrown backwards.

"You okay Bagon?" Cinder asked her Pokémon as he quickly got back to his feet. Bagon nodded, glaring at Kingdra. "Alright then. Let's hit 'em again with a Zen Headbutt!"

Tensing his muscles once again, Bagon charged forward with his head turned down, much like a bull would position its head while charging. In the process, the white, hair-like formation on his head began to glow with a multicolored light, pulsating in a slightly hypnotic manner.

Clair grunted, rolling her eyes. "A headfirst charge? That's almost too easy to counter. Kingdra, Dragon Pulse."

"_Dra_," Kingdra replied, smirking at his opponent's foolishness. Forming the green orb in front of his snout, he lazily launched it at his charging opponent. The orb collided with Bagon's head, and the two forces began to push against each other, back and forth, trying to gain the upper hand. Eventually, the Dragon Pulse simply exploded from the built up pressure, pushing Bagon back.

"Fine then, if that's how you want to play, spit a Dragonbreath at him Bagon!"

Shaking his head to help clear it from the last hit he received, Bagon glared at Kindgra. With a high-pitched roar, he opened his maw and shot a green blast of flames at his opponent.

"Dodge," Clair ordered.

As the stream of fire headed straight for him, Kindgra simply leaned to his left, letting the attack sail past him and crash into the wall behind. With a lazy snort, he straightened himself back out and gave what appeared to be a grin in Bagon's direction.

"Now fire an Ice Beam Kingdra."

"Bagon, block it with a Flamethrower!"

Both battlers unleashed their attacks at once: Kingdra's literally a beam of ice and Bagon's a stream of flames. The two attacks collided in the middle between the two of them, and a cloud of steam immediately burst forth, quickly spreading and blanketing the battlefield. The steam obscured the vision of everyone inside the building, with no one, both human and Pokémon alike, able to see what was happening on the battlefield.

"Now's our chance Bagon," Cinder said quietly to her Pokémon. She then proceeded to whisper her orders quietly to her Pokémon, who nodded back at her in the steam cloud.

On the other side of the battlefield, Clair stood impassively as she waited for the cloud to clear, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Kingdra had adopted a similar stance as he lazily flicked his tassels on the top of his head. What he wasn't expecting, though, was for a multicolored pattern of lights to suddenly emerge from the fog and crash into him.

Crying out in surprise as Bagon slammed into him with a Zen Headbutt, Kingdra was knocked back to the edge of the pool, his back knocking against the far side.

"Kingdra?" Clair said, now on high alert as she heard her Pokémon cry out. "What's wrong?"

"You know Clair," Cinder said, smiling at the other end of the field, "You shouldn't let your guard down when you can't see your opponent. Especially if one's opponent knows a move like Zen Headbutt, which would shed some light in that fog and help them find their way to their opponent."

Clair's eyes widened in surprise as she heard what Cinder had done. She didn't stay that way for long though, as she immediately shouted, "Blast him away with an Ice Beam now!"

"Dragon Rush!" Cinder responded at the same moment.

As Kingdra quickly tried to form an Ice Beam to fend off his opponent, Bagon was already charging once again. Thanks to his speed and power boost from his previous Dragon Dances, Bagon aura-surrounded body was able to slam into Kingdra a half a second before he was done charging his Ice Beam, dealing a massive amount of damage to the seahorse.

Squealing in pain, the attack sent Kingdra flying out of the pool and out of the steam, only to crash into the wall behind Clair. The blow against the wall was enough to make him loose control of the Ice Beam he had been charging, which fired wildly into the stands, sending spectators scattering as they tried to avoid the deathly cold attack.

"Kingdra!" Clair shouted in worry as her Pokémon struggled to stand up on his large tail.

"It's over Clair!" Cinder shouted. "Bagon, finish this by charging in with a Double-Edge and adding in a Dragon Rush!"

Clair mashed her teeth together, angry that she had allowed Kingdra to be beaten so badly so easily. "You're hastiness is going to cost you the match Cinder," she replied back. "Kingdra, time for our trump card! Fire a Draco Meteor!"

Cinder froze in place when she heard Clair's order. Slowly, her eyes widened as Kingdra began to pulsate with a crackling orange aura while Bagon charged in blindly, his head turned down to the ground. He was charging head on into one of the most powerful Dragon-type move in existence.

"No Bagon! Stop!" she tried to shout, but her voice was drowned out by the crowd, who had began cheering even louder, sensing a knockout. Her pleas unheard, Bagon continued forward, a blue aura erupting around his body. Meanwhile, the side of an orange orb could be seen in Kindgra's snout as it expanded to handle the giant attack.

And then he fired.

The giant orange sphere, about twice as large as Gabite's strongest one and easily two times larger than Bagon burst out of his narrow snout. It thundered forward, crackling with power. At the same time, Bagon continued forward fearlessly. He had noticed the oncoming attack and, seeing it was too late to dodge, decided to try to charge straight through it.

Time seemed to slow down as the two attacks neared each other. With an almighty heave, Bagon launched himself into the air and hung there, ever so slowly inching towards the Draco Meteor as it rolled forward at a snail's pace as well.

Then they collided.

With a thundering bang Bagon slammed into the Draco Meteor, pushing it back with all his might. The orb shuttered from the blow and began to contract in the center as the top and bottom expanded and engulfed the glowing Rock Head Pokémon. As soon as Bagon was swallowed up by the orb, it promptly exploded in a blinding flash of white light and wind, nearly blowing both Clair and Cinder off of their feet from the blast of air as they shielded their eyes.

The glare from the attack remained strong for a few seconds, before slowly dissipating. Blinking to adjust to the new light, everyone leaned forward excitedly to see the outcome of the attack.

There, lying in a giant smoldering crater lay Bagon, his body bruised and battered. A little ways away, Kingdra was slumped against the wall, his head hanging loosely on his shoulders. Neither of the Pokémon moved.

Breathing heavily, Mark cautiously took a step forward, inspecting the scene before him as everyone waited for his ruling. With a grunt, he thrust both flags into the air, shouting, "Both Pokémon are unable to battle. Therefore, the result of this year's annual Battle of the Dragons is a draw!"

Silence reined in the battle room for what seemed like hours, everyone seemingly shocked at the results in front of them. Then, as if someone flicked an invisible switch, the entire audience roared to life, most people cheering on their favorite Trainer from the match, some booing the outcome, and a few clapping politely, just happy that the insanely long battle was over.

Walking over to the newly made crater in the field, Cinder silently recalled her unconscious Bagon back into his Poké Ball. "You were amazing Bagon," she whispered, holding the tiny sphere to her lips. "Now be sure to get some nice rest. You deserve it."

Clair seemed to be congratulating her Kingdra on the other side of the field as well, as she was talking to the now semi-conscious Dragon Pokémon while helping to support his head with one arm. Smiling, she finally recalled him into his ball after a few more seconds of talking, and walked over to face Cinder.

"Well Cinder," Clair said smiling, "you certainly proved yourself to be a worthy opponent. Not many Trainers would be able to pull out a draw against me when I'm not holding back. You've certainly improved over the little ten-year-old girl I fought all those years before."

"But I still haven't managed to defeat you," Cinder pointed out.

Clair gave a quiet chuckle as she draped an arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. "Just keep on training and getting better and better, and someday you may just be able to finally earn the Rising Badge. Now come on, we're already late for the fireworks to start as it is."

"Uh, right," Cinder said, remembering the fireworks that signaled the end of the Dragon Festival. "I guess we should get going then."

* * *

Sitting on a grassy slope outside the Gym, Cinder gazed up in the air at the exploding balls of fire that were currently lighting up the sky. Each group of fireworks would fly up into the air one after another, each one bursting in an bang of different colors and sounds. Sometimes they would even burst into different shapes, like a Poké Ball or the head of a Dragon-type Pokémon.

However, her gazing didn't last long, as a pair of footsteps got closer and closer to her right, slightly muffled by the grass. Sighing, she sat up to see a fairly large man in some kind of blue shirt with white flowers and Poké Balls printed all over it. He too seemed to be gazing up at the fireworks, although why he seemed to be wearing a pair of dark sunglasses in the middle of the night to watch them was beyond Cinder. Clearing her throat, she said, "Do you want something?"

Hearing Cinder talking to him, the man looked down, smiled at her, and said, "Just watching the fireworks. You wouldn't happen to be Cinder Flair now, would you?"

"Yeah, that's me," Cinder said tentatively, still not sure what the strange man wanted. Upon her note of conformation, the man smiled again and nodded his head, his brown curls of his receding hairline bouncing as he did so.

"Excellent, you're just the person who I've been looking for."

Clair, who had been chatting with a couple of young Trainers a little ways away, noticed the exchange between Cinder and the man. Excusing herself from the conversation, she walked over to the two people, smiling. To the man, she asked, "Is that you Scott? I haven't seen you around Blackthorn City in a while."

"Ah, Clair!" the man in the flowery shirt exclaimed, still smiling. "I'm glad I got to see you. It has been a long time."

"Wait a second," Cinder said, standing up and looking at both Clair and the man who was apparently named Scott, "you two know each other?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself," Scott said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Holding out his other hand, he said, "My name's Scott, Scott Harville, and I'm the owner of the Battle Frontier."

* * *

**And that seems like a good place to stop. I think you guys might be able to see where this story is headed now. If you can't, I guess you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out.**

**Well, I warned you guys that it was a long battle. In retrospect, it was probably a bit too long, but hey, it was a big battle. I'll probably have to cut down a bit with future battles though, because at the rate I update and the length of the battles, one big, six-on-six battle could take a year to write.**

**But yeah, I'm not really happy with this chapter. My battle descriptions really need some work. As they say, practice makes perfect, so any helpful hints or advice would be greatly appreciated.**

**Next chapter will include Cinder's chat with Scott and Clair, as well as Damon and Jessica having a bit of a chat themselves. Oh, and we may just see Cole and Blayze in there too.**

**That's about it. Don't forget to review, and stay tuned for the latest Johto Journey updates going live in a couple of weeks. So until then…**


	7. Decision Time

**Chapter 6: Decision Time**

* * *

"Battle Frontier? What's that?" Cinder asked, staring at Scott in confusion.

"The Battle Frontier is the name for a group of facilities where Trainers compete in various forms of battle," Scott explained. "They're sort of similar to Gyms, except they're run by a Frontier Brain instead of a Gym Leader and instead of a Badge you get a Symbol upon winning. The big difference is that a lot of Frontier Brains use different rules to test a certain area of expertise for Trainers, and as such they're said to be even tougher than your normal old Gyms," he added with a chuckle.

Clair rolled her eyes. "Of course, if you beat eight Gyms, where the Gym Leaders are almost always going easy on their opponents in order to test their opponent's strength, you get to challenge the Pokémon League, which is obviously much harder than some silly Battle Frontier."

"But because you Gym Leaders almost always go easy on your opponents, you have to fight every single opponent that comes your way, and you hardly ever have a real challenge from the random kid walking in and demanding a battle," Scott replied, still grinning. "Tell me Clair, besides your battle tonight, when was the last time you had a _real_ challenge from a fairly unknown Trainer? One where you didn't hold back at all?"

Clair grunted and rolled her eyes, but didn't respond to Scott's question. Instead she said, "Look, we could stand here arguing which is better, Gyms or Frontier Facilities, so why don't we just agree to disagree?"

"So I take it that means you yield the argument to me?" Scott asked with a laugh. Clair glared at the chubby man and opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Cinder.

"So why did you want to talk to me?" Cinder asked, trying to redirect the conversation before a giant argument broke out between her former master and the Battle Frontier owner.

"Hm? Oh yes," Scott said, turning his attention back to Cinder. "Well, you see part of my job of being the owner of the Battle Frontier is finding Trainers who I think are worthy of challenging it. After all, I can't have any old trainer challenge my Frontier Brains. They would be crushed."

"So that's what you're doing here," Cinder said, understanding dawning upon her. "You were looking for powerful Trainers who you want to partake in your, uh, challenge or whatever it is."

Scott nodded, his grin still plastered to his face. Cinder was beginning to wonder if it was a permanent feature on his body. "Exactly! This Dragon Festival of yours attracted Trainers from all over the globe, so it was the perfect place for me to go to scope out some talent."

"So what does all this have to do with me?" Cinder asked.

"Seriously? Are you really that stupid?" a new voice asked, drawing all three pairs of eyes to the new figure who was stomping towards them. "For some weird reason, Sunglasses over there thinks that you actually have some talent as a Trainer," Cole sneered, instantly making Cinder's temper flare.

"Well now, who's this?" Scott asked upon seeing the new arrival, the smile on his face dropping a little.

Cinder glared at her brother, crossing her arms across her chest. "He's nobody," she growled, her eyes never leaving Cole.

Cole smirked at her in response. "Now is that anyway to introduce your older brother?" he asked, his mocking voice just increasing Cinder's rapidly growing temper. Turning to Scott, Cole said, "As for you Sunglasses, you can call me Cole."

A single brown eyebrow emerged above the top of Scott's sunglasses as he turned to glance at Cinder. "This is your brother?"

"Unfortunately," she grumbled.

"I have to agree with you there little sis," Cole said, still smirking. "After all, I can't believe how someone like _me_ could be related to a weakling like you and a freak like Blayze."

Clair regarded Cole with a cold stare. "You know," she said, "one should not talk about their family in that way. It is very disrespectful, and your actions make others think less of you."

"I don't really care what you think about me," Cole replied, shrugging. "After all, I beat you fairly easily if I remember correctly."

Clair glared at the insolent boy, replying, "I was testing you, just like all other Gym Leaders do. Our jobs aren't to win every single battle we're in, but to give badges to Trainers who we feel earned them through a variety of tests via battling. In fact, I can assure you that you've never actually had a true battle against a Gym Leader, for I have no doubt that any one of us could beat you with your attitude."

"Excuses, excuses," Cole replied, lazily examining his right hand and ignoring the glares he was receiving.

"What do you want anyway Cole?" Cinder asked, trying to find a way to get rid of her annoying older brother.

Cole simply shrugged in response to Cinder's question. "Well, why do you think? You were just in a fairly big battle with a Gym Leader, and I was coming over to talk to you about it. After all, who else is going to point out that blue hair over there went easy on you, and that you should have been beaten into the ground. Instead, you got a bit lucky, and on top of that, your opponent went soft on you. But I guess that's what happens when you never use your full strength." With this, he glanced over at Clair and smiled at her. "Your weaker battling becomes your strongest battling. Your skills get dull, your Pokémon lazy, and you simply lose your previous skills. Not that they were high up there in the first place though."

"You certainly are critical, aren't you," Scott said, taken aback by the boy's rant. Hearing Scott's reply, Cole wheeled around and faced him, regarding him coldly.

"What's it to you, Sunglasses?" he asked, his eyes looking over the slightly shorter man, taking in his tourist-like appearance. "By the way, just what were you talking to these losers about anyway? Are you some sort of retarded fan of theirs or something?"

Scott frowned at Cole, obviously displeased with the teen's attitude. "Actually, my name is Scott, and I'm the owner of the Battle Frontier. In fact, before you so rudely interrupted, I was just about to ask your sister here if she would be interested in—"

He would never get to finish his sentence though, as Cole cut him off with a burst of laughter. "Are you serious? _You're_ the owner of the Battle Frontier, and you actually think that _Cinder_ is tough enough to take on that challenge? Wow, either you're even dumber than you look, you're a horrible liar, or everything I've heard of the Battle Frontier are lies and it's filled with a bunch of weaklings. Of course, the answer is probably all three."

"That's enough Cole," Cinder growled, both of her hands clutched tightly at her sides.

"Or what?" Cole sneered. "What's the little baby going to—" He never got to finish his sentence though, as Cinder's right fist shot out from her side, punching Cole square in the face. Cole let out a gasp of surprise from the blow and staggered backwards, clutching his face and swearing loudly.

"You have no idea how good that felt," Cinder said, rubbing her right fist with her left hand.

"You...You freaking bitch!" Cole sputtered, glaring at the red haired girl through a crack in two of his fingers. With an angry snarl he launched himself forward, only to run into something very large, and fairly scaly. Glancing upwards, he met the eyes of a rather pissed off Gyarados, who looked like he was only a bit too willing to crush the little pest beneath him.

"That is enough!" Clair grumbled, stepping in between the two quarreling siblings. "Both of you are acting like children."

Cole glared at the Blackthorn City Gym Leader and opened his mouth to speak, only for Gyarados to growl menacingly at him. Needless to say, he didn't say whatever it was he was planning on saying.

"That's better," Clair grumbled.

Scott coughed quietly in the awkward silence that followed, Cinder and Cole simply glaring at each other and Clair making sure it didn't go beyond that. "So, um, anyway Cinder. Would you be interesting in competing in the Battle Frontier? I think you would enjoy the experience."

Taking a deep breath, Cinder tore her eyes away from Cole and glanced over at Scott. "I'm…not sure," she finally mumbled.

On the other side of Gyarados, Cole snorted. "Why? You afraid your puny little Typhlosion will get hurt again?" He was about to say more, but another growl from Gyarados quickly silenced him. So instead he grunted and folded his arms over his chest, glaring at the Atrocious Pokémon.

Scott continued on, ignoring Cole's little comment. "Well, why don't you think about it a little? After all, there's no rush or anything. You can take the Battle Frontier challenge any time you want."

"What about me?" Cole asked, glancing briefly over at the owner of the Battle Frontier before returning to glare at Clair's Gyarados.

"What are you grumbling about now?" Clair asked, her Gyarados growling slightly to add some intimidation. "Do you really expect some sort of special treatment from the three of us after the way you acted before? You should count yourself lucky that I haven't ordered Gyarados to Hyper Beam you to next Tuesday yet."

Cole smiled coldly at the Blackthorn City Gym Leader. "I'm…intrigued. I've heard of the Battle Frontier before from Trainers I've beaten on the road. I've read about it in a few magazines, and I've even seen a few television specials on it. And in all of them, they talked about how they each specialized in a specific trait to test even some of the most experienced Trainer's out there. And yet, on the day I apparently meet the owner of what I once considered a prestigious group of facilities, he's considering my _sister_ for a chance to battle in the Battle Frontier. And I have to say, if the owner of the Battle Frontier would rather choose a girl who has never made it to the top eight in any competition over a guy who just placed second in the entire Johto League, then everything about the Battle Frontier would be a sham. Now I'm beginning to wonder how strong all those previous challengers really were, or if they were all really just weak Trainers who have no idea what real battling is. So I want to try it out for myself to see what it's really like."

Clair and Cinder glanced at each other. Neither of them had expected Cole to actually want to compete; at least, not after the way he treated Scott before.

A similar thought was apparently going through Scott's head, as he smiled and replied, "And why should I accept you? After all, you've insulted me, my facilities, a Gym Leader, and your own sister in a matter of minutes. That's definitely not the type of Trainer I want competing in my facilities."

Cinder winced as she heard Scott's verdict. Cole wasn't used to not getting what he wanted. And even though she agreed with his decision, it could spell trouble for her later on down the road if she went on to compete as well.

Surprisingly, however, Cole didn't react in a burst of outrage. Instead, he began laughing, further adding to the growing confusion of the other three people on the hill. "You…You think you actually have a choice in the matter?" Cole finally asked, his sides shaking as he tried to regain his composure.

"Um, yes, I do," Scott replied, only adding to Cole's laughter.

Finally, after about another minute or two, Cole finally managed to subdue his laughing for the most part. Taking a few deep breaths, he said, "Well you see Scott, if word gets out that the owner of the Battle Frontier refused to let the runner up from the Johto League last year and chose instead to have his own, less accomplished sister compete, people are going to start talking. And you can be sure that I'm going to do everything in my power to help spread those rumors, be them true or not. After all, I'm not some random half-baked Trainer off the street. I've got connections. And I can promise you that the public will never look at the Battle Frontier the same way again once I get through with you."

"You…You're giving me an ultimatum?" Scott said, shocked at the strange turn of events. "That's blackmail!"

Cole flashed a smile at the curly haired man. "I prefer to think of it as a deal. You do something for me, I do something for you. It's up to you really. Would you want to risk having the image of your little Battle Frontier stained, or allow a powerful Trainer to compete? And, being the generous person I am, I'll even promise that I won't talk about the Battle Frontier at all until after I've won if you agree. So what do you say Scott? Do we have ourselves a deal?"

* * *

Jessica stifled a yawn for what must have been the fifth time in less than two minutes. Grumbling slightly to herself, she pushed her chair away from her desk and the mound of paperwork on it, and stood up stretching. A new artifact being brought in always meant a mound of paperwork for her to look through and approve, and this one was no exception. But the paperwork always brought a slight feeling of happiness to her, as it meant that Damon was back and safe with her, at least for a little while.

Smiling to herself, she recounted the scene from the previous night. Typical Damon. He always did something unexpected when he came back from a mission, like sneaking up behind her and startling her. But he had never actually thrown a beaten up boy into her office before. That had been completely unexpected.

Almost as if on cue, a voice behind her said, "Arceus, I don't know how you can stand looking through that crap for hours on end."

Whirling around, Jessica suddenly came face to face with the person she was just thinking about. Sighing as Damon chuckled, she leaned back against her desk and folded her arms. "You know I hate it when you do that," she grumbled.

"And you know that's why I like to do it," Damon grinned. "Besides, think of it this way. One day you might actually notice me sneaking up on you. And once you do that, no one will be able to."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Someone's got a high opinion of himself," she said quietly, causing the thief to chuckle to himself. "At least you're in a good mood today."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Damon asked, still smiling. "I was able to get that Dragon Fang without a hitch, caught a little sneak, and now I'm enjoying my time off with a truly amazing person."

At hearing the last part of his list, Jessica rolled her eyes and shook her head, but chose to simply ignore the flattery. "You call alerting an elite force of Dragon-type Trainers to your position, being chased by the Champion of Johto for hours, and almost killing yourself on a mission 'going off without a hitch?'" she asked, raising a single eyebrow.

Damon shrugged, but some of the lightheartedness in his nature from before seemed to have disappeared. "I've been through worse. We both know that."

"And that gives you an excuse to take excess risk with your life? Just because you've been through tougher challenges out in the field doesn't mean you're immune from any lesser mission going horribly wrong."

"I know that," Damon grumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest and looking away from Jessica.

"Then why do you constantly insist on putting yourself in unnecessary danger Damon?" Jessica asked, exasperated.

Damon's eyes narrowed as he looked over at Jessica. "Now you and I both know that I don't do this just for laughs and giggles, so don't make it seem as if I willingly run out there risking my life for stupid trinkets that are hardly worth what it takes to get them. If it was my choice, I would pack my bags right now and wave sayonara to this place. But we both know that that's not going to happen anytime soon. At least not until the boss gets what he wants."

"It's just…hard sometimes," Jessica said, sighing. "I hate how I'm constantly worrying about you all the time. One week you're sneaking into a museum in Pewter City, and the next you're being chased by the strongest Trainers in all of Johto. What's next? A swarm of genetically-altered super Magikarp?"

"You know, if one were to genetically-alter something, I think they would settle on something a little better than a Magikarp. Those things will always be useless no matter what you do to it until you evolve them. But you're right," he said quickly as she began to glare at him, "it is getting a bit ridiculous."

"And it's not only the missions that have me worried. You've changed Damon. You're becoming more secretive, and more brutal too. I mean, just look at what you did to that poor boy last night. The Damon I know wouldn't do something like that. I don't know who you're becoming, but I know one thing: I don't like it."

"Hey," Damon said, uncrossing his arms and taking a step toward Jessica. "Come on now Jess, you know that's not true. I'm still the same old Damon, it's just that…recent events have caused me to do some…unconventional things…"

Jessica raised a single eyebrow as Damon stammered to a halt. "See, even you can't come up with a good argument."

Damon sighed. "So what do you want me to do Jess? It's not like I can control what mission Blackburn sends me on. And whether I like it or not, those missions sometimes force me to do some things that I may not want to do."

Jessica shook her head, sighing as well. "When did things get so complicated?"

"Oh, they've pretty much always been this way," Damon said. "You just never noticed it before."

"Oh haha, very funny," Jessica said, rolling her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something else, but at that moment, a cough sounded from the doorway of her office, causing both her and Damon to temporarily shift their attention away from their conversation to the girl standing in the doorway.

Looking awkwardly at the two of them, the girl mumbled, "Um, excuse me. I'm looking for someone named Damon Kione. Do, um, either of you know where I could find him?"

Jessica and Damon glanced at each other, not sure what to make of this random girl. She didn't seem to know what she was doing, as evident from her not knowing that the person she was looking for was standing right in front of her. Tentatively, Damon said, "Yes, I believe we know where you could find him."

The girl sighed in relief. "Ah, thank you so much! I've been running all around this building for a half an hour now looking for him. So where is he?"

"He's standing right in front of you," Damon replied, smiling as the girl began to stutter in confusion.

"Great, now look what you've done," Jessica said. In response, Damon glanced back and smiled innocently at her, making her roll her eyes.

"You're…and he…and I…with the…" the girl continued to stutter, much to Damon's amusement.

"So, why exactly were you looking for me?" Damon asked, trying to redirect the conversation back to the reason for the strange girl having been looking for him.

"Oh, um, yeah, right," the girl muttered, a blush spreading across her face in embarrassment. "Um, I have a message for you from Dianne." At this, Damon raised an eyebrow, and motioned for the girl to continue. "So, um, apparently you're supposed to be at this meeting thing with the boss at ten. He wants to talk to you about something."

Looking over at the clock mounted on the wall of Jessica's office, Damon swore slightly under his breath. Glancing back at the messenger, he said, "Nice of you to give me the message ten minutes after I'm supposed to be at the meeting."

The girl's eyes widened in horror as she too looked over at the clock. "Oh no! I'm…I didn't mean…I got…" she said, beginning to stutter again.

"Now, now, no reason to be so upset," Jessica said. "Damon's late all the time for his meetings anyway. Isn't that right, Damon?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Damon replied, giving her another innocent smile.

"Well then Mr. I'm-never-late-to-a-meeting, shouldn't you be getting a move-on, seeing as how your standing here talking to us is just making you even more late?" Jessica replied. Damon's smile faltered, and he rolled his eyes.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to get rid of me."

Not missing a beat, Jessica smiled and said, "Well obviously I'm trying to get rid of you, you big oaf. I've got boring paperwork to through."

* * *

Cinder sighed as she gazed down upon Blackthorn City. The sun was just peaking over the mountains that surround the city, and most of the residents were just waking up, having stayed up the late into the night before for the festival. The evidence of last night could be seen all throughout the city, as clean-up crews were still out in full force, picking up garbage and tearing down different stalls and platforms. From Cinder's vantage point on the ledge above, they looked like tiny bugs scurrying around after their hive had been disturbed.

Sighing again, she pushed back the few strands of hair that had fallen into her face as she remembered what had happened last night. Scott had grudgingly agreed to Cole's deal, although he hadn't been happy about it at all. He had then proceeded to walk away, muttering something about needing his sleep, but not before reminding her that his offer still stood. Cole on the other hand had simply smirked and walked away in the general direction of their house. She could only assume that he had been there, as his bag, a week's worth of food, and other various belongings were gone by the time she had managed to get back. She had also found Blayze passed out on the couch, once again sitting upside down on it with his feet in the air and his arms and head resting on the ground.

She had tried to fall asleep in her bed, but her thoughts kept her up, keeping sleep out of her reach. The fact that Typhlosion was also in her room sleeping as well didn't help either. So she had gotten up at about four in the morning and went out to one of her favorite spots in Blackthorn: a little cave in the ridge below her house. She had found a tunnel leading to the cave when she had first moved to Blackthorn, and when she followed it, she found that it opened up in a small cavern underneath her house. One of the sides had broken off, opening up a view to the outside world, along with the virtually ninety degree angle drop of the ridge.

She was still sitting there now, staring at the sunrise, thinking about what she was going to do. After all, she had no plans at all. What was there to do? She had tried all four of the leagues in the regions closest to her, and she really didn't want to go back and head through the same region all over again, collecting the same Badges, and winding up in another tournament that would lead to her defeat, as she always did awful in tournaments.

But at the same time, could she really do the Battle Frontier now that she knew that Cole was competing? What if he was able to complete it and she couldn't? One thing would be for sure, he would never let it go. If she settled on the Battle Frontier, she would need to make sure that she would be able to win the entire thing. The only problem was that she wasn't sure if she _could_ win it. The Frontier Brains were supposed to be tougher than any Gym Leader, and she had just barely managed to scrape by with a draw when a Gym Leader was going almost full power. How could she be expected to beat a tougher opponent?

"I thought I would find you down here," a voice said behind her. Turning around, Cinder saw that Blayze was standing at the entrance to the cavern, and was leaning against the far wall on the opposite side of the ledge drop-off. His hair was in a mess as always, except the top was flat from having slept on it while sitting upside down, giving him an almost comical appearance. "I woke up earlier and no one was home."

"What about Mom and Dad?" Cinder asked.

Blayze shrugged. "I don't know, they weren't there. That's why I said 'no one was home.' Even Beedrill didn't know where they went, and he's usually really good at keeping track of people. And when I tried to ask Noctowl if he had seen anyone last night, he got really mad that I woke him up and hit me with an Air Slash. Trust me, you don't want to wake up to one of those in the morning."

Cinder smiled slightly, and Blayze grinned back at her in response. Patting the ground next to her, she said, "Want to sit? There's a pretty nice view of the city from here."

"Alrighty," Blayze said, walking over and plopping right down next to his sister. He swung his legs out over the edge of the drop-off, and began kicking the air with them, much like a little kid would kick the air in a seat that was too big for them. "So, any idea where Cole ran off to? His stuff was gone, so I figured that he either left or we were robbed by some guy with really bad taste."

Cinder shrugged. "Knowing him and what happened last night, I wouldn't be surprised if he was already in Kanto by now."

Seeing Blayze's confused expression, Cinder proceeded to tell him about what had happened last night at the Dragon Festival, starting with her and Clair and ending with the scene with Scott. When she had finally finished, Blayze leaned back and whistled.

"Geeze, you get distracted by one little shiny thing, and end up missing all the action," he mumbled. "So not fair. I want to go to the Battle Frontier!"

"You're already going to Sinnoh, remember?" Cinder pointed out. "After all, didn't you promise your friends that you would meet them out there?"

Blayze rolled his eyes. "Please, with all the training I've been doing, Cody doesn't stand a chance against me now. And I beat Ace last time we battled, so obviously we know who the better Trainer is. I think they would understand if I went to go onto bigger and better things for a little advanced training. At least for a little while."

"Or they might think that you're a chicken for not showing up and you're afraid of fighting them," Cinder pointed out.

Blayze snorted, but didn't respond beyond that. The silence continued between the two of them as they each gazed out at the city below. The sun was above the mountains now, and the city was clogged with people once again. Most of them were leaving, having come for the Dragon Festival for a little vacation or celebration, and were ready for their next journey to begin.

"So what are you planning on doing?" Blayze asked finally. "I mean, are you going to do the Battle Frontier challenge, or did you have other plans?"

Cinder sighed. She had been hoping Blayze wouldn't ask her that question, but as always, things never seemed to go her way. Choosing her words carefully, she said, "I'm not really sure. I mean, I have to make sure Typhlosion is better before setting out for wherever it is that I'm going next."

"So wait…You're telling me that you might pass up the chance to go to the Battle Frontier?" Blayze asked, staring at his sister as if she was a mentally insane person and he hadn't realized it until now.

"Well…I don't know. I mean, I'm not sure if I'm really up for it…"

"Are you completely mental?" he asked, jumping up. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you're going to let it go because you're afraid it's going to be hard? That's not the way you should be thinking! Trainers are supposed to push themselves to reach greater heights than they ever thought possible, and this is a textbook example of one. We're not supposed to settle on something to do because it's easy. Plus, what fun would that be if we just ran around doing extremely easy things? A challenge is what makes everything worthwhile!"

Cinder glared at her younger brother. "You think I don't know that? I know what it means to be a Trainer, Blayze. I've been one longer than you have. But have you seen my track record recently? I had to forfeit in the Indigo League because I didn't have enough Pokémon to continue. I got destroyed in my battle with Cole. And I barely tied with Clair, and she wasn't even going full strength on me apparently! So what hope to I have against people who are most likely a lot tougher than them?"

"But we don't really know what we can do until we try," Blayze retorted. "And if you think that way, then guess what? You're going to end up losing the battle. It's all about your mentality. If you think you're going to win, and your Pokémon believe in you, then it's going to be really hard for anyone to defeat you. But if you keep thinking like this depressed little girl, you're not going to be able to do anything!"

"Shut up!" Cinder cried, getting to her feet. She glared at her little brother, who glared back, obviously annoyed with her. "I don't need you lecturing me about how I should be battling, or acting, or whatever Blayze. And I'm getting tired of it! Ever since I've come home it seems like you can't help but to give advice at every turn about stuff I already know about! So would you do me a favor and just go away?"

Blayze's eyes narrowed as he stared at his sister. With a grunt he stood up to his full height, and Cinder noticed for the first time that her younger brother was actually taller than her now by about an inch. But they way he seemed to stare down at her made the height gap seem all the larger.

"You want me to leave you alone?" he finally asked. "Fine. You don't want me to help you get through this? That's fine too. Go ahead and wallow in your self-pity. I'm done with trying to help you."

Spinning around on his heels, he turned his back to his sister and marched out of the cavern without a backwards glance. Cinder didn't notice though. She had already turned her attention back to the view of Blackthorn.

How long she stood there, she didn't know. It could have been a few minutes or a few hours, but eventually, Cinder noticed that her vision was getting very blurry. She blinked a few times to try to clear it, before the realization hit her. The things blurring her eyesight were tears.

She was crying.

_Damn it,_ she thought, feeling the wetness on her cheeks. _I've screwed everything up. Blayze hates me, Typhlosion's been hurt again, and everyone thinks I'm a spoiled brat for the way I've been acting. You idiot! How could you have acted like that?_

_Well, I'm tired of all this crap. I'm tired of feeling like a loser and letting everyone down. I've got to find a way to turn this around, before I completely drive off everyone I've ever cared about._

Taking a shuttering breath, Cinder wiped the tears from her eyes and continued to look out of the hole in the wall, just thinking.

_Blayze…I'm so sorry. You were right about everything. I…well, thanks. I know that you probably are pissed with me now, but I promise I'll make it up to you._

_But first things first. It's time for me to get back in the game and stop acting like this. And I think I know the perfect way of how to do just that._

Smiling to herself, Cinder continued to stare out of the hole, memorizing the sight before her. "Goodbye Blackthorn City. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but for right now, the Battle Frontier awaits."

* * *

**Well, that seems like a good place to stop. Seems like Cinder's got her motivation back. It's about time, don't you think?**

**And we got to see more of Damon and Jessica. It's been a little while, although I guess it's only been a few chapters. It seems longer than that though.**

**Next chapter will feature Damon talking with his boss and Cinder doing…some more stuff. So yeah, it should be good. Plus, more OCs! That's always good, right?**

**Anywho, please review, give some constructive criticism, yada yada yada. Seriously though, I didn't get a single review last chapter, so it would be nice if I could just get one little review for this one. No pressure though, haha.**


	8. Here We Go Again

**Chapter 7: Here We Go Again**

* * *

"Well, I'm happy to hear that you decided to take the challenge after all Cinder," Scott said, his face flickering slightly over the video chat.

Cinder nodded and smiled at him. "Well, I was a bit…apprehensive at first to accept, but I finally decided that this was probably the right thing to do. Well, after my little brother helped to kick some sense into me."

"Either way, I don't think you'll regret your decision, especially after a couple of battles with my Frontier Brains, haha. I'll go ahead and send you the location of the first Battle Facility."

There was a beeping sound, followed quickly by a rather loud and annoying sequence of high-pitched electronic noises as a sheet of paper slid out from the base of the screen. Cinder waited a few seconds for the ink to dry fully, before snatching up the paper.

"Thanks Scott. I'll be sure to try my best in your Battle Frontier."

Scott grinned. "Now that's the kind of enthusiasm I'm looking for. Good luck with your first battle, Cinder. Who knows, you might even see me there to watch you fight~"

Chuckling to himself, Scott pressed a button on his monitor, ending the chat and making Cinder's screen flicker and fade to black. She didn't pay much attention to it though, as she was busy reading where she was headed for.

_Metallica Island, eh? Well then, it looks like I'm headed for the Seafoam Islands!_

* * *

Damon sighed and tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator continued its snail crawl up to the top floor. Personally, he hated the thing. Not only was it slower than a Slakoth trying to run a marathon, but it was a tiny, confined box suspended in the air hundreds of feet above the ground. And he was powerless to do anything if the cable snapped for some reason. If there was one thing that set him on edge, it was not having some sort of control over his situation.

Finally, after an eternity and a half, the elevator came to a grinding halt, and he practically ripped the doors open in his haste to get out of the metal deathtrap. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself back down, he couldn't help but curse quietly at the transporter. It was a pity the elevator was the only way to get to the top floor office where his Boss was.

His calm and collected self restored, he began to walk forward, his shoes echoing off of the stone floor. As he made his way towards Dianne's desk, his eyes involuntarily swept across the room, taking in the picture around him. The room itself was rather impressive. The floor was covered in some sort of shiny green and black stone, while four marble pillars helped to support the higher-than-normal ceiling. The walls, meanwhile, were covered with various pieces of artwork that Damon could only assume were expensive, and the walls to his right and left also had two large windows each overlooking the city below and adding some natural light into the space.

At the far end of the hall, in front of the door leading to his boss's office, sat a large, oak desk that took up about half of the width of the room around it. And sitting behind the desk, typing at her computer, sat Dianne.

Dianne wasn't your stereotypical secretary. Instead of being some sort of older, gray-haired granny, Dianne was a blonde, twenty-eight-year-old, although Damon suspected that she was secretly a bit older than that. After all, a twenty-eight-year-old would never have enough experience to hold the one of the highest positions within the organization. Still, she had somehow passed all of her older colleagues and had been promoted to top dog fairly early on in her career. And that had been over a year ago. Since then, she had successfully managed to oversee most of the operations of the company, and had even played a big part in the seventeen percent increase in revenue they had achieved. She seemed to be perfect in almost every way. She never messed up in her duties, always got things done before they were do, and successfully accomplished any pressing task the Boss gave her.

Damon despised her.

When he had first met her, Damon knew instantly that the two of them weren't going to like each other. And he had been right. The two of them had been butting heads almost since she got her promotion. Dianna didn't like Damon's way of getting things done. She criticized him at every turn, pointing out all of his flaws and mistakes. Damon, meanwhile, couldn't stand how she was Little Miss Perfect. He purposefully went out of his way sometimes to screw something up, like throwing her computer off of the back of his Aerodactyl or "accidentally" mixing up the papers in worker's mailboxes so they got the wrong forms and paperwork.

As these thoughts were going though Damon's head, he reached Dianne's desk, making him stop in his tracks. Sighing to himself in his head, he crossed his arms and waited for Dianne to notice him.

Dianne, for her part, did a fairly good job of ignoring him. Her eyes never left the screen of her computer even as she chatted away with someone via a headset attached to right side of her head. Apparently, they had screwed up some shipping forms, and now she was having to go through the computer and redo all of the forms herself.

Finally, after she had shouted at the poor soul on the other end of the line for another fifteen minutes, she clicked her headset off. Without even looking at Damon, she said, "You're late again, Mr. Kione."

Damon simply shrugged at her remark. "I only just heard about it now, Dianne. Your little intern or whatever she was that you sent to find me didn't know her way around at all."

"So now it's the intern's fault, is it Mr. Kione? Well, we would have sent someone else to find you, but right now everyone is busy having to deal with the mess you created with your latest scandal. Congratulations Mr. Kione, you've managed to drag the National Pokémon League Committee, the G-Men, and many other high ranking representatives of the Dragon Clan into multiple investigations our dealings."

Damon winced slightly despite himself. "Well, what was I supposed to do? Lead the Champion of Johto to our front door?"

"You were _supposed_ to complete your mission without being detected," Dianne responded, sounding like she was explaining something that she had already explained before. "And within that regard, you failed Mr. Kione."

Damon set his hands on her desk and leaned forward, getting closer to Dianne. "Look, I honestly don't care what you think. The only opinion of my job that matters is the Boss's, and he's perfectly fine with me as long as I get him what he wants. Your job is to clean up the mess. Now then, I believe that we've let the Boss wait long enough. You better let me go through before he starts to get really angry."

Dianne finally tore her eyes away from her computer screen to glare at Damon, who smiled back at her. Sliding her glasses back up from the bridge of her nose, she quietly said, "Mark my words, Mr. Kione. One day your antics will end up costing you big time. And don't expect the Boss to bail you out. One slip up and you're done."

Smiling slightly, Dianne spun to her left on her chair and pressed a button underneath a built in speaker in the desk. "Mr. Blackburn? Mr. Kione is here for his meeting."

There was a brief pause, and then the speaker crackled to life. "Let him in," the voice said through a slight cloud of static.

"You heard the man," Dianne said, rolling back to her computer. "Get going and let me get some work done."

Damon grumbled something about her not having to have stopped working if she had just let him through, but quickly passed the desk and opened the large, mahogany door that led to the Boss's office before Dianne could yell at him again.

Closing the door quietly behind him, Damon was slightly surprised at how dark the room was that he found himself in. The only light came from a small lamp that was sitting on a desk in the back of the room, which illuminated the papers on the desk and the desk itself, but that was about it. From his previous times in the office, Damon knew that there were two windows on the far wall behind the desk, but he also knew that his boss liked to block out the light from the outside when he was trying to work out a big and complicated problem.

There was a squeaking sound from the darkness behind the desk, followed by a sigh. "Please come in, Damon," a man said from the darkness, his voice laced with weariness.

Damon obeyed the orders and shuffled forward cautiously, his eyes darting back and forth in the darkness. "You wanted to see me Mr. Blackburn?"

The man in the darkness grunted. "Of course I wanted to see you. I need to bring you up to speed on your missions."

Damon nodded. This was usual for him. A few days after he came back from a mission his boss would send him out on his next one, but first he would always call the thief into his office so he could brief him. He had never called him so early though.

"Let me cut to the chase Damon, simply because I'm tired and I don't feel like partaking in useless small talk right now. Your latest mission has caused us quite a few problems."

Damon gulped quietly, wondering where his boss was going with this. Blackburn continued, either ignoring the gulp or not hearing it. "You've attracted lots of unwanted attention to us. The Pokemon League is in a frenzy because Lance has disappeared. Right now I'm not sure if it's better if they find him alive and he tells them about us or they find him dead and there's a massive manhunt to find you. We're doing everything we can to help smooth the issue over and plant false trails, but frankly it's all turning into a giant mess."

"I'm sorry sir," Damon muttered. "They had a hidden sensor that I didn't detect in the floor until it was too late."

There was another sigh from the shadows. "I guess what's done is done. There's no use in focusing too much on what has already transpired. But take this incident and turn it into a learning experience. I don't want another fiasco like this again."

"Yes sir," Damon said, his eyes trained on the barely distinguishable floorboards from the light of the lamp.

"Now then, onto your next mission." At this, Damon's head snapped up, and he stared into the shadows with a look of confusion on his face. "Before you ask, yes, you're heading back out. Your Aerodactyl has already been healed by our top medics, and should be good for your flight. The main reason I'm sending you out though is because with all this confusion you've caused, it may be best if we cause some more to make them focus on multiple cases at once. And it also serves as a bit of a punishment as an added bonus."

"…Alright sir," Damon said quietly. "Where am I headed for?"

A pale hand suddenly extended from the shadows into the light of the lamp, holding a brown folder. Damon took a few steps forward and took the file, opening up to show various pictures with notes scribbled on bits of paper next to them, as well as some official-looking files barely discernable in the light of the lamp. Most of them depicted an island of some sort, with the most prominent feature of it being a large volcano in the very center.

"Cinnabar Island?" Damon asked, recognizing the pictures. There was a sound of shifting fabric from the shadows, which he assumed was a nod.

"Yes, Cinnabar Island. It's located in south-west Kanto near the Seafoam Islands. Although I'm sure you already know all of this."

"What exactly is the target this time?" Damon asked, scanning over the file.

"Your target is an item called the Mystic Water. There should be a picture of it in there somewhere. Some of our agents have reported that it is in the possession of some sort of traveling water circus. Your mission is to discover where it is being hidden, and then retrieve it. You may use any distraction you wish, but you are not to be seen. If you are linked to the two different thefts, then things will become extremely difficult for us. So difficult in fact that I may be forced to cut you as a loss. I don't wish to do that Damon, but I can't have you messing up. Do you understand?"

Damon gulped again. "Y-yes sir," he said, silently cursing himself for stammering.

"Good," Blackburn said with a weary sigh. "Now get going. I want you in the air in less than half an hour. You've already stalled enough by being late to our meeting."

"Yes sir," Damon said once again. Spinning around, he headed back towards the door of the office, the mission file tucked under his arm and his mind racing about a thousand miles an hour.

One thing was for sure though: he was not going to screw up this mission.

* * *

Typhlosion lay silently on his medical bed, staring lazily at his Trainer. Cinder was packing her last few things into an orange backpack, trying to shove as much stuff as she possibly could into the carrying device. Pushing down hard on the top of it, she just barely managed to squeeze the zipper shut, which was already straining to keep her stuff inside.

"I need to pack a bit lighter…" she mumbled, regretfully opening up her bag again, which almost immediately spilled half of its contents onto her bed. Sighing, she spent another ten minutes shifting through her stuff again, leaving behind a few things she decided she could go without, like a flashlight and a few of the extra clothes she had packed. Her sorting proved to be successful though, as the bag zipped shut easily without the few extra things.

"Alright, that's all good to go," she mumbled, brushing some hair out of her face. Her efforts proved to be useless though, as the red strands simply fell back into place, making her sigh in frustration. Pulling out her hair tie, the rest of her messy hair came undone from its usual ponytail, which ended up falling to her shoulders and back. Putting the tie around her wrist, she messed with her hair with her hands for a few seconds, ruffling it a bit and making sure that was all laying somewhat flat. Then she pulled it back with both hands, and in a few quick movements, undid the hair tie from around her wrist and back into place around her hair.

Walking over to her mirror, she sighed as she saw that it was already coming undone, her unruly hair refusing to cooperate with her. Looking into the mirror, she couldn't help but notice her choice in clothing for her latest journey. Indeed, it was basically the same style of clothes she had worn for the past five years. She had donned her usual t-shirt: a slightly tight, black article of clothing with a picture of a fireball on her chest. She had also chosen to go with her orange skirt that went down to her knees for today, as well as her black belt. The newest part about her clothing for this adventure though, was a pair of black and orange-rimmed fingerless gloves that she knew would come in handy. Hopefully her palms wouldn't get as scratched up now when she had to climb something or break a fall with her hands.

Still, as she looked at her attire, she couldn't help but to frown at herself.

_I need a new outfit,_ she thought to herself, rubbing the hem of her skirt with her hand. _I look like some sort of Flannery wannabe. And a bad one at that._

Sighing, she pushed the thought out of her mind. There wasn't any time for her to go try and find a new traveling outfit at this point and time, so she'd just have to make the best of it. But she made a quick mental note that the next time she was home, she'd go looking for something else to wear.

Grabbing her pack, she turned around and faced Typhlosion, smiling at her oldest partner. Typhlosion began to rise from his makeshift bed, but was quickly stopped when Cinder put her hand on his head, pushing him back down.

"_Typhlo_," he growled, shaking her hand off and looking quizzically at her.

Cinder sighed. "Look Typhlosion, I know you want to go with me and everything, but I'm not sure if that's the best idea. I mean, you're still recovering from that battle with Cole and everything. So you're going to be staying here for a while to recover."

Typhlosion snorted and rolled his eyes. In an attempt to prove Cinder wrong, he began to rise from his bed, but Cinder stopped him once again.

"See? If I can push you back down like that you're in no condition to be traveling."

Typlosion grumbled in annoyance. Still, he didn't bother trying to sit back up again, which Cinder took as a sign that he wouldn't do something stupid like try to follow her. Sighing again, Cinder bent down and wrapped her arms around the Fire-type, burying her face in his blue fur.

"You know I don't want to leave you behind, right?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled from his fur. Typhlosion didn't respond, choosing instead to stare at the blank, white walls of the room, his ears flicking lazily in the air.

Standing back up, she ran her hand across his fur, reminiscing some of their past ventures. "Just focus on getting better for right now, yeah? Don't worry; I'm sure I'll be calling on you sooner rather than later. I'm definitely going to need your help if I stand any chance at beating all of those Frontier Brains."

She paused, waiting for some sort of reaction from Typhlosion. To her surprise though, the Fire-type didn't appear to react to her speech at all. Raising an eyebrow, she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong with him, when she noticed that his eyes were closed.

Rolling her eyes, she couldn't help but smile. Deciding not to disturb her resting friend, she shouldered her pack, and tip-toed out of her room into the hallway. Closing the door with a small squeak, she made her way down the hall, going right past the stairs and straight to the two doors leading to her brothers' rooms.

Originally, the larger of the two rooms had belonged to Cole, but since he had already set out on his journey when they moved, Blayze quickly took advantage of his absence and claimed the larger room for himself. Of course, that didn't go over well with Cole when he actually came home for the first time, but it ended up all working out in the end. Cole didn't use his room much anyway, as he rarely came home more than a few days a year. As a result, his room was pretty bare, with only a few trophies and souvenirs from his travels lining a shelf on his wall to add any sort of hominess to it.

As always, the door to Cole's room was shut, and Blayze's was wide open, a shirt hanging off the inside doorknob. Inside, the room was a mess. Clothes, old toys, and junk was scattered everywhere. One literally couldn't take a step inside without stepping on something in the process.

Inside, Blayze was looking through the pile of clothes that was spilling out of his closet. As he searched, he simply threw the unwanted pieces of clothing behind him as he tried to find the specific article he was looking for, only adding to the mess already on the floor. Besides him, Houndoom was also in his room, lounging on Blayze's unmade bed next to an empty pizza box and a few comic books.

Noticing Cinder approaching, Houndoom raised his head and gave a warning growl. Blayze paused in his searching to see what had worried his Pokémon, and his eyes immediately narrowed when he saw Cinder.

"What do you want?" he asked coldly, straightening up and crossing his arms.

Cinder sighed. "I need to talk to you, Blayze."

Blayze snorted. "Yeah, right. Just like how you 'talked' to me yesterday? Or back when you were all depressed from your battle with Cole? No, I'm done talking to you. Go take your problems somewhere else."

"No, that's not what I meant," Cinder said, taking a step forward into the clutter. She didn't get very far though, as Houndoom growled again. It was a clear warning that she was not to get any closer to his Trainer.

Blayze rolled his eyes and threw an old shirt at Houndoom, which hit the dog square in the face and continued to hang there, stuck on one of his horns. "Geeze, lighten up a bit, would you? Yeah, I'm still mad at her, but that doesn't mean we're going to attack her." Turning back to his sister, he said, "Well, what is it that has forced the high and mighty Cinder to end up talking to me?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, okay?"

Blayze just stared at her, not showing any signs of hearing her apology. After a few seconds of silence, he simply said, "So?"

Cinder blinked. "So? Um…well…I'm not really sure what you're asking."

Blayze turned away from his sister, and once again began shifting through the pile of clothes in front of him. He didn't have as much gusto as he had before though, and it seemed more as a task to keep him busy than having a real purpose. "So what? Why should I care if you're sorry or not? It doesn't change what happened. It won't stop you from doing it in the future. If people simply can do anything they want and then get off the hook with a simple sorry, they're just going to go back and do it all over again."

"Then what do you want me to do?" Cinder asked, exasperated. "What can I do to show you that I'm sorry?"

"You could always clean my room," he suggested, wrinkling his nose in disgust as he pulled out a pair of putrid smelling shorts.

"I mean realistically," Cinder said, trying to help lighten the mood a bit.

Blayze sighed and shook his head. Without warning, he suddenly twisted around and threw the pair of shorts at Cinder. The clothing smacked against her face, startling her. Backpedaling away from the unexpected blow, she ended up tripping on something underfoot, lost her balance, and fell. She landed with a thud in the clutter on Blayze's floor, crushing the stuff under her.

"What the hell?" she shouted, peeling the shorts off of her face and flinging them as far away as she could. On the other side of the room, Blayze was trying, and failing, to hold in a bout of laughter.

"What was that all about?" Cinder growled, glaring at her brother.

"You can say that we're even now," Blayze said, grinning now. "Consider it payback for hitting me before. Plus, you know I'm horrible at being mad at people for too long."

Cinder took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself down, which turned out to be a bad idea. She ended up gagging from the smell of something under her. Scrambling to her feet, she took a few deep breaths of air that wasn't so rotten smelling. "So do you forgive me now?"

Blayze sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. Just try not to get all depressed-Cinder again, yeah? Next time I'm just going to send Houndoom over there to cheer you up."

"_Doom_," Houndoom barked, grinning at Cinder as he managed to tear the shirt from his horn.

Cinder laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." Looking around his cluttered room, she spied Blayze's backpack hanging off of his bed spilling its contents out onto the floor. What caught her attention about it though, was the fact that it also had fresh-looking food next to it, a rarity for something in his room. "Are you leaving or something?"

"Yeah," Blayze said, resuming his rummaging. "I told you before, I was staying for the Festival, but then I was leaving after it. I'm off to Sinnoh. You figured out what you're doing yet?"

"Thanks to you," Cinder replied, making her way carefully over to his bag. "I'm going to take the Battle Frontier challenge."

"Good. You would have been an idiot to have passed—Aha!"

With a triumphant cheer Blayze dug a headband out of the pile of clothes. It was mainly black, but the bottom had dancing red flames going all the way across the edge of it. Tossing it in the general direction of his bag, he said, "Hey, do you mind picking some of that stuff up that fell out of my bag? A certain dog knocked it over when he was climbing up onto my bed, and is too lazy to help clean."

"_Hound_," Houndoom barked, his pointed tail swishing in the air behind him.

Cinder glanced down at the stuff Blayze had packed. Luckily, he had decided to take mostly new and cleaner items on his journey, and it was easy to see what he had packed before. Kneeling down, she picked up the few stray items that had fallen out, and placed them one by one on the bed. She only got about halfway through picking them up though, when something caught her eye.

"What's this?" she asked, pulling a few photographs out from underneath a red sweater. There were three of them. The first one had a picture with Blayze and three other people: two boys and one girl. He had the blonde-haired boy in a headlock, while the brown-haired girl stood close by, laughing as the boy tried to get out of Blayze's grip. The second boy, this one with black hair, stood a little ways away, his arms crossed in front of him and rolling his eyes. Still, he was smiling at the scene before him.

The second picture had another boy along with Blayze. Instead of joking around and having fun, however, Blayze seemed to be angry at the silver-haired boy next to him, as his fists were clenched and he was glaring at him. The silver-haired boy, however, didn't seem fazed at all. Cinder couldn't tell much from his expression, as he was turning away from the camera and his hair covered the half of his face that was in the picture. But his posture suggested he was fairly relaxed, which was the complete opposite in terms of the way her brother appeared to be acting.

The third picture, however, was the one that Cinder found to be the most interesting. Blayze wasn't in this picture. Rather, it was a girl with dirty blond hair all by herself, smiling and waving cheerfully at the camera. The interesting part about it though, was there seemed to be some sort of note on the back of the picture, the loopy lettering unmistakably female.

"What are you doing?" Blayze shouted, startling Cinder. She barely managed to get a glimpse of a heart at the end of the note on the picture before Blayze snatched all three out of her hand, blushing furiously.

"Who's that in the picture Blayze?" Cinder asked, giving her brother a knowing smile.

"N-No one!" he said, stuffing the three pictures unceremoniously into his bag and zipping it shut. "J-Just my friends, you know? Derek, Sara, and Cody."

Cinder rolled her eyes. "You know that wasn't the picture I was asking about. And before you tell me about the one with you glaring at Ace, that's not the one I was talking about either. Who's that girl?"

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!" he said, his voice practically shouting out the last sentence. Before Cinder could say anything else, Blayze quickly spun her around and began pushing her towards the door. "I-I need to finish packing. Long journey, need to figure out what I'm taking, all that fun stuff. So go away and let me finish packing. I-I'll be down soon."

And with that, he shoved Cinder out into the hall, scrambled to grab a hold of his doorknob, and quickly slammed his door shut.

* * *

Half an hour later, Blayze came downstairs, his face still slightly red. His red bag was slung over his shoulder, part of a shirt sticking out from where he couldn't get the zipper shut all the way.

"About time you got down here," Cinder said. "I was just about to head off before I got to say goodbye."

"Yeah, sorry," he said, his eyes avoiding Cinder's. "I couldn't find my sleeping bag anywhere."

"Well you're not the one who has a boat to catch. It's leaving tomorrow, and I'm barely going to get there on time even with using Mom's Pidgeot. I have to fly all the way to Olivine you know."

"Then what are you doing standing here talking to me then? Get going!"

Cinder rolled her eyes. "Well, I would, but Mom's busy getting Pidgeot ready, and Dad said he wanted to speak with us quickly before we leave."

"Oh great," Blayze groaned. "He's probably going to make me help him weld something together again or help him make a pipe or something. It's awful!"

Cinder rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go see what he wants."

Making their way out of the house, the two of them were slightly surprised to see that their parents were already waiting for them. Soot and Anna were sitting together at a small table they had set up outside, chatting quietly. There were two objects sitting on the table, both of which were covered up by a white cloth. Seeing his kids coming out, Soot stood up and motioned for them to come over to the table.

"What's going on, Dad?" Blayze asked, eyeing the two things on the table anxiously.

Soot cleared his through, looking back and forth between his two children. "As you know, I was a Trainer myself once," he began.

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Blayze said, interrupting him. "You were a great old Fire-type Trainer, won a bunch of stuff, got into that fight that ended your career, yada yada yada."

"Well, yes," Soot admitted, "but that's not why I wanted to talk to you two. It's about my Magmortar. She was my starter Pokémon way back when, and has proven herself time and time again that she is one of my most reliable and resourceful partners."

"Just where are you going with this, Dad?" Cinder asked. "Not to be rude or anything, but I do have a boat to catch, and I need to leave soon or else I'll miss it."

Soot glanced over at Cinder. "It would take less time if you two stopped interrupting. Now then, what was I saying? Oh yes, Magmortar. Well, anyway, a few weeks before you kids came home, I was caught by surprise one morning when I found Magmortar holding three eggs. So I got to talking to her, and eventually we settled on this idea. I'm giving you each one of her eggs so you can raise the Pokémon inside. It wouldn't be good for them to just sit around here all day long after all. So for weeks now I've been tending to the eggs, and now that you're leaving, I'm going to go ahead and give them to you."

Reaching over, Soot pulled off the two sheets from the objects. Underneath were two containers, mainly cylindrical in shape with a half circle on the top. Inside of each of them was a single egg, red in color and decorated with a flame design.

"Sweet!" Blayze said, grabbing one of the cases. "I always wanted a Magmortar, and now I can get one! I can't wait to see the look on Cole's face when he sees me with a Magmortar while he's stuck with his Magmar!"

"Well, you know that we're going to give the third egg to Cole, right?" Anna asked. "He left before we could give it to him, but the next time he comes home, he'll be surprised with a little baby Magby. Who knows, maybe he'll evolve one of them all the way to a Magmortar if he can find a Magmarizer."

"Thanks, Dad," Cinder said, picking up her own egg and holding it against her. The case was pretty bulky, and she'd be forced to walk around with half of it sticking out of her bag since it was so big, but it would all be worth it once it hatched.

"You two better take care of those children, you hear?" Soot said. "Magmortar took a lot of convincing to part with those, and she might not take too kindly to anything bad happening to her babies."

Blayze rolled his eyes. "You worry too much dad. They're perfectly safe with us, especially with this handy case you put them in. Now I don't have to worry about accidentally dropping it or anything."

"Probably not something you want to say to inspire confidence Blayze," Cinder said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I really have to get going. Is Pidgeot ready Mom?"

"He's ready to fly," Anna replied, smiling.

"Thanks," Cinder said, giving her mother a rather awkward hug with one arm holding the egg and her having to bend down to reach the sitting Anna. Standing back up, she hugged Soot next, who gave her a slight squeeze in response.

"Don't even think about giving me a hug," Blayze said, stepping back from his sister, grinning at her. "But, uh, yeah, I'll see you around. I guess. Good luck with the whole Battle Frontier thing."

"Thanks. And you go win the Lilly of the Valley Conference so you can rub it in Cole's face."

"Not like I would accept anything less," Blayze replied. "After all, I've got a future flamethrower in my arms. No way I'm going to lose now."

Cinder nodded, grinning at her younger brother. "Now then, I really have to go. I'll see you soon."

Turning away from her family, Cinder vaguely heard their well wishes and goodbyes. She had one goal in mind, and she was going to make sure that this time, she would be victorious.

_Cinnabar Island, here I come._

* * *

**Alright, that's a good place to stop. It went on a bit longer than I thought, but hey, at least it wasn't another twenty pager.**

**So Cinder's off on her new journey, and Damon's already out on his next mission. And they're both headed to Cinnabar Island. Things should definitely be interesting when they get there.**

**Yeah, I know. The whole big, bad boss in the shadows is cliché and overdone, but I have my reasons. Promise.**

**But, you're going to have to wait for just a bit longer for Cinnabar. I can't give a lot away about the next chapter, but I can assure you it's going to be an exciting one. Or at least, I hope it'll be an exciting one. You'll just have to wait and see~**


End file.
